It Takes A Merlin To Raise A Child
by Sannepan
Summary: After an incident with flower-pressing skills, an Arthur who can't say sorry and mysterious butterflies, Arthur suddenly begins to become younger. Can merlin save him in time without revealing his secret?
1. Chapter One

**First of all, I'd like to thank and give loads of credit to MagicbyMerlin. MagicbyMerlin. MagicbyMerlin. Maybe I can repeat it a couple of times more, but I guess you already got the point. This story is written by us both and therefore: MagicbyMerlin. MagicbyMerlin and me, Sannepan.  
Oh, and if you like, please review! I think I would looove reviews. And so does MagicbyMerlin. (How many of them are there yet?)**

**This chapter must be read like some kind of long intro, by the way. I promise the next chapters will become better and better. And, more important. CUTER! Yay!  
So have fun reading!**

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"Shut up, _Mer_lin!" Arthur said. They were in the prince's chambers; Merlin sat in a chair, looking mutinous, and Arthur towering above him, looking snobbish. "I told you I was going to teach you how to brag so that's what I'm going to do. STOP MOANING FOR HEAVENS SAKE!" he added, exasperated, as Merlin opened his mouth to say something.

"Bu -" Merlin tried.

"NO! Bad, Merlin, Bad! SIT! Stay…good, Merlin." Merlin sulkily folded his arms and cast a sullen glare in the prince's direction but said nothing.

"Right, first lesson, Merlin. Find something you're good at," Arthur said, taking a seat opposite Merlin and giving him a calculating look.

"Erm…found it!" Merlin said after a moment.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"What is it you're good at?" Arthur demanded, feeling wound up.

"Can't tell you," Merlin said.

"That's just great. Why not?"

"You'll probably get me locked up…"

"What are you on about, Merlin?" the prince asked, frustrated. "Tell me!"

"No," Merlin said flatly.

"Merlin…" Arthur was now looming dangerously over Merlin who was very near the mark of terror.

"No, sorry, can't tell you…" Merlin said and cleared his throat nervously as Arthur glowered angrily, not understanding why he couldn't know.

"_Mer_lin, you better tell me or I'll start guessing!" the prince threatened, an evil glint in his eye. Merlin cringed at the icy glare, but still said nothing. "Okay! Here I go! You're good at…cleaning socks!" Arthur suggested.

"But you already know that! Its no secret!" Arthur sighed and sat down again.

"Fine, embroidery then? Like those big wall-hanging-things."

"Why do you only choose girly hobbies?" Merlin demanded angrily.

"I don't know," Arthur said with a frustrated wave of the hand. "What are you good at, then?"

"You have to keep guessing," Merlin said smugly and lent back in his chair with a wide grin. Arthur glowered at him.

"Fine, are you good at…erm…flower pressing?"

"FLOWER PRESSING???" Merlin jumped up, looking enraged – something Arthur had never seen in his manservant before. "FLOWER PRESSING! I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW, I AM A MAN!"

"Well, I -" Arthur began.

"Shut up! And no, its not flower pressing!"

"I was only -"

"NO, I don't want to hear it," Merlin stormed to the other side of the room, folded his arms and went into official-Merlin-sulk-mode. Arthur fidgeted with his sleeve.

"Merlin…I didn't mean to…" he said, making a poor attempt at an apology; Merlin didn't respond. "Okay, fine! Is it sword fighting?"

Merlin turned around, throwing him an evil, evil glare, filled with…well, evil things, almost on fire and all.

"What?" Arthur asked nervously. "I didn't mean that as a joke. Have you ever seen a girl fight? Its not a girly at all!" he said quickly, trying not to show that the look was actually scaring him.

"You know I'm awful with a sword! You just had to go and rub it in, didn't you?" Merlin huffed, glaring ever more, fury in his eyes. Arthur backed away a few steps as Merlin and his relentless stare came closer.

"I…didn't mean…umm…I mean…what I meant is…that…umm…you…need…I need…umm…stuff…erm…THERE'S SOMETHING BEHIND YOU!" Merlin spun around and Arthur took his chance to run.

"COME BACK HERE! NO ONE INSULTS ME!" Merlin thundered and gave chase to the prince who was now skidding around a corner in the corridor outside his chambers.

"You do it all the time to me, AND DO I COMPLAIN?" Arthur answered loudly, trying to stay ahead of Merlin. It was weird but it kind of seemed that Merlin was about to catch up with him. Arthur shook his head, disposing of the idea that Merlin could outrun him. Not Merlin – no, it just wasn't possible.

After living all those years in a castle this big, Arthur knew the short cuts, hiding places and all of the statues he could hide behind.

He hoped Merlin didn't.

"Where'd you go?" Merlin demanded as Arthur hid himself away behind a tapestry. "Coward!" the young warlock added for good measure. That made Arthur mad…

"What – did – you – call – me?" he asked waspishly, coming out from behind the curtain and glowering at Merlin.

"You heard," Merlin sullenly folded his arms. Arthur's ears began to steam…almost literally. Being called a prat was something he got used to in time, but coward was really out of line, even for Merlin.

"You – you can't address me like that, and you know it!" he yelled furiously, about to grab his swords but then realised he hadn't brought it from his chambers.

"Or what? Are you going to throw me in the stocks again?" Merlin replied, lifting his chin up arrogantly and added, just for the fun of it, "You coward."

Okay, that was it. Sword or no sword, he could take Merlin easily with his bare hands. And without realising, Arthur made a fist and took a swing at his manservant. Merlin ducked, but only just in time.

"Okay, that's really out of order!" the manservant cried, and quickly kicked Arthur where, for a man, it would most hurt… The prince doubled over and fell sideways onto the floor, groaning.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" a loud voice boomed, and Merlin swung round to see the king marching up to him and his son who was now rolling on the floor. Uther looked down at Arthur fleetingly and back up at Merlin. "You have damaged my son! You do realize he may not be able to produce an heir to the throne now?" Uther grabbed Merlin by the ear and began carting him away, ignoring Arthur who was now clutching a certain part of male anatomy and groaning profoundly…

You don't have to guess for long about where Uther left Merlin. It were not the cells, down beneath the castle, where Merlin would get locked up alone, so he could think. No, it was the stocks, which Merlin loved so much.

You would really think that, in these times of economic recess, people would be cautious with their food. Yeah, right…

Not only did bad and rotten fruit get thrown at Merlin, even the good pieces of potato, which really hurt when got thrown at his nose. Also his right ear felt like it was on fire – Uther had pinched it very hard. Merlin had no time to think, but was trying to avoid the apples, unions, potatoes and sprouts.

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Sometime later, after he had been released from the stocks and cleaned himself up, Merlin gingerly opened the door to Arthur's chambers and peered in. He saw the prince sitting down cautiously, wincing and then standing up again. Merlin quickly made his way in and put on his most 'I'm-sorry-please-don't-hurt-me' face. He coughed to get Arthur's attention. The prince heard him and spun round.

"You…" he hissed in a dangerous tone and narrowed his eyes angrily. Merlin cleared his throat and looked sheepish.

"Erm…sorry?"

"Sorry? _Sorry_?" Arthur cried in disbelief. "Do you realize just how much that hurt? Seriously, you've got to see the damage you've caused!"

"NO, NO, I really don't want to see anything, Arthur…" Merlin muttered quickly, began blushing and busied himself with folding Arthur's clothes that were on the bed.

"You're the worst manservant ever," Arthur was staring out of the window, still angry.

"Like I didn't know that already," Merlin scoffed, folding the last piece of cloth. He looked around, hoping to find anything else he could do to keep Arthur away from the subject of damaged anatomy…

"Any other manservant wouldn't have kicked me…" the prince groused and stared out the window while picking at a grain of stone on the wall.

"Any other prince wouldn't have made fun of my flower pressing skills." In a quarter of a second, Merlin realised what he just said and pressed his hand over his mouth, hoping Arthur hadn't notice what he'd just said. Arthur turned around with a wide grin on his face. He immediately forgot about the pain.

"So, you do, do flower pressing!" Arthur said triumphantly and began laughing, much to Merlin's annoyance.

"Yeah, so what if I do?" Merlin said icily. "Its far better than…_sword fighting_…"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

"Oh, shut up."

"Why? Its hilarious!"

"Do you want me to kick you again?"  
Arthur winced.

"Erm…no…" he said quickly. "Umm…actually I think your flower pressing skills are quite amazing…and wonderful…" he finished with a nervous cough.

"You haven't even seen my pressed flowers…" Merlin crossed both his arms and looked at Arthur.

"No, but…I'm sure they're lovely…"

"Would you like to see them?" Merlin's oh so angry face quickly changed into a very excited one. He didn't even waited for a response. The young warlock just turned around and sprinted out of the room, back to his own one. Arthur was left behind, surprised.

What had just happened?

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	2. Chapter Two

**Thank for all of those reviews! Because we didn't want you to wait any longer, here is the next chapter! (And we just wanted to upload it, anyway...) So have fun reading and don't forget to review it! Reviews make me go: "AHHH! I GOT A REVIEW!" and run around my room like a... well, like something, but I guess it's quite funny to see.**

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Merlin jumped on top of his bed and turned to hang over the side, upside down. Underneath his bed was (beside all of the dust that had been collected there over time, a lost sock and his precious spell book) another book. He grabbed it, kept it safe by pressing it against his chest and ran back to Arthur's chambers.

"Got it!" he cried gleefully and charged into Arthur's room where the prince looked ever so slightly scared. "Come over here," he set the book down on the table and opened it with extreme care.

"Look, I'm not really that interested -" Arthur began but Merlin silenced him with a look that clearly stated 'shut up or I'll kick you again' so Arthur very hurriedly shut up and pretended to take an interest in the hundreds of flowers that lined the pages of the book Merlin was slowly flicking through.

"I picked this one up in Ealdor," Merlin informed him, pointing at a small blue flower.

"Erm…yeah…its really nice…" Arthur sighed and stuck his tounge out when Merlin turned back to the book.

"Well," Merlin said, "if you like it so much," he reached for the flower, "you can have it."

Arthur took the small blue flower as he handed it to him and looked down at it as though it was some strange alien that had somehow appeared on his hand.

"Err…thanks?"

"You're welcome!" Merlin said with a broad smile and went back to the book.

Arthur looked at the flower. It was actually quite sweet of Merlin to give it to him. He smiled.

So Arthur was standing there, with a flat blue flower in his hand, not knowing what to do with it.

Merlin was still babbling on about his flowers, pointing at them in their turn.

"This one I found when I just arrived at Camelot, and this one when I – what's wrong, Arthur?" he turned from his book to face Arthur. He noticed he was being very quiet all of a sudden.

Arthur was staring at his flower, still smiling.

"No…no, nothing's wrong. I just…I have nothing to give you."

Merlin grinned. It was kind of funny to see Arthur like this, when he had nothing to say.

"Well, you can stop sticking your tongue out at me behind my back, for starters."

Arthur's jaw dropped and he almost let go of the flower.

"How did you…you…how?"

Merlin shrugged.

"Oh…I have my ways," he tried hard to keep his face straight, but he started to laugh at Arthur's flabbergasted expression.

"Idiot," Arthur muttered, still smiling despite himself and began to take more interest in the book.

Merlin went to look at the book too, and showed him all the flowers he'd collected over his lifetime. Arthur wasn't so interested in the flowers but he did like to spend time with Merlin, however much his manservant wound him up, and so humoured his friend. He couldn't understand why Merlin was so into such a girly hobby but he guessed people were entitled to their own opinions, so he didn't question Merlin's actions.

When Merlin turned the next page a huge sunflower suddenly blinded the prince and he had to look away.

"Ahh, Merlin, quickly, shut it! It's blinding me!" Arthur cried, being completely honest.

Merlin looked up, his lip wobbling.

"You, you…don't like it?" he asked in a small voice.

"_No_! I do NOT 'like' it!"

Merlin's lip wobbled furiously and he slowly closed the book, his eyes swimming with mortal offence.

"But I thought…" he began. "I thought you liked me…"

"I _do_ like you, but that flower was blinding me, Merlin!" Arthur exasperated.

Merlin seemed to be unable to breath. He quickly seized the book and ran from the room, already crying, leaving Arthur somewhat baffled. What had he said now?

After a few moments of thought, he decided he should go talk to Merlin about what happened. He poked his head out of his door, just checking if Merlin was in the hallway.

_Of course he isn't_, Arthur thought to himself, _he probably just ran away to who-knows-where and there is no way I can find him today._

But then he realized something. He had found something Merlin was actually good at. He held the proof in his own hand.

So, with the blue flower still inside his hand, he stepped out of his chamber, determined to find Merlin and teach him how to brag…and explain why he'd been so angry about the sunflower. _And_ maybe apologize to him. _Maybe_…

Arthur decided to try Gaius's place first so he sidled down the corridors to where the physician's workshop was, and rapped his knuckles on the door.

The door swung open and Gaius appeared, eyebrow raised to heights that could rival Everest.

"Sire?"

"Is Merlin about?" Arthur asked, getting straight to the point. He was never a one to dawdle.

"No, but I saw him running off into the woods. He looked upset about something…" Gaius said.

"Oh," the prince said, not realizing he'd offended Merlin _that_ badly. "Well, I'll just go find him then," he began to walk down the corridor.

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Meanwhile, Merlin blindly ran past the trees, not caring when the odd branch or twig suddenly appeared in his path and cut his face; he didn't care when the small gashes began to sting. He just cared about getting away to a place where he could be alone with his memories.

What Arthur hadn't known was that Merlin's hobby had all started with his mother. She had encouraged it when he was young for something for him to do to keep him out of trouble (namely magic) and even when he had grown up he hadn't kicked the habit so still, every day we went out and collected flowers. This, being a fond childhood memory, made Merlin very protective of the book with his flowers in it. He knew he was being stupid by reacting so childishly when Arthur probably hadn't meant to upset him, but he was feeling fragile and so he kept running.

When Arthur found him, he was sitting by a small lake, throwing pebbles into the water and clutching his book tightly to his chest.

It was hard not to cry himself. Seeing Merlin sitting there, all alone and with wet cheeks, made him feel guilty. He hadn't meant to hurt Merlin like that, but it seemed he had. Arthur decided he had to fix this.

While trying not to scare him to death, Arthur walked up to lone figure. He cleared his throat with the usual cough, to get Merlin's attention. It worked, and Merlin looked up, his eyes all red and bleary. He clutched his book even tighter, before getting up to stand across Arthur.

"Don't even…" a small sob interrupted his sentence, "dare to make fun of me!" the young warlock managed to get out before the tears came rolling down his face again. He knew he was being stupid. Arthur would be quite right to call him a girl at this point, but he didn't care.

Arthur raised his hand to rub the back of his head, feeling uncomfortable.

"Err…" the right words wouldn't come to mind. "Merlin, I…" he started, but was rudely interrupted.

"Don't 'Merlin' me! I know what you're trying to do! And congratulations! You've done it!" Merlin spat. He turned around and walked away briskly.

"Merlin! Wait a minute! I don't know what it is you think I'm trying, but…" Arthur began, but Merlin didn't respond; he just kept walking towards the trees that surrounded the lake. "Oh, come on. Don't make me say it!"

Merlin spun around.

"Maybe if you'll say it, you'll mean it," he called back and then subsided onto a rock to wait for a reply.

Arthur groaned inwardly. 'Sorry' was not a word he uttered regularly…

"Okay, I'm…s…s…s…s…sor…" he struggled. Merlin looked on with growing distain. What kind of a man couldn't even apologize? "S…s…sor…sorr…sorry?" Arthur finally managed to splutter, and then looked quite pleased with himself but Merlin had other thoughts.

"Prat," he muttered under his breath and began to walk off again.

"No, wait! Come back!" Arthur cried and gave chase to Merlin who was now hurtling at full speed towards the trees. But suddenly Merlin froze. Arthur, completely not expecting it, bumped into him and fell over backwards. Merlin had turned around, now towering over him. It was probably better to stand up again, Arthur thought, laying on the ground with an angry Merlin above you wasn't such a good idea. That book seemed quite heavy and a good weapon…

He quickly stood up, brushing the dirt and fallen leaves of his clothes. Merlin started to speak again.

"What do you want? You've apologised to me – you're done here. I can't have you following me around all day…or you have come to help me do my chores…?"

"Merlin, I'm truly s…sorry. I really, really am! Wait…did you just make a joke?"

Something that looked like a smile appeared on Merlin's face, but it disappeared almost immediately. He was still angry with Arthur. The prince would have to try harder to make it up to him again.

"No, I did not just make a joke. You are mistaken," Merlin said very bluntly. "I'm not gonna forgive you, you know."

"Oh, come on, Merlin! Who gets upset about flowers?" Arthur exasperated.

"Me!"

"…Good point…" Arthur muttered, "Listen," he went round to face Merlin but his servant just turned away, "I'll give you the day off, if you like."

Merlin snorted, jutted his jaw and cast Arthur an evil glare before looking back over the lake.

"For goodness sake, Merlin! What's wrong with you?" Arthur demanded angrily, his temper rising.

"My mother started this hobby!" Merlin growled, waving the book at Arthur. "You don't know what it means to me! Leave me alone!" and with that he began to sulkily walk away, fist clutched hard around the spine of the book.

Arthur made to go after him, but he suddenly felt very, very weird. He looked up as a butterfly fluttered past his face. Another and another followed the first. They were all inky black in colour, but as Arthur looked on, they seemed to be shedding small scales before his eyes. Before he realized what was happening, the scales were flying up his nose as he breathed in. He coughed, finding it to smell weird. He waved the butterflies away and began to walk after Merlin's retreating back, coughing a little.

"Hey, wait up, Merlin!" he called after his friend and broke into a run.

The butterflies disappeared…

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**Yay! In the next chapter all of the cuteness and silliness will commence! So don't forget to review!**


	3. Chapter Three

**Thanks, all of you, for the reviews! It means so much! I've been running through my room all day...There's some sort of reward on my profile. So go there, check my profile pic. Please go all: "AHH! HOW CUTE!" I'd love that.  
I said this chapter would be the beginning of all the cuteness and I hope I was right. Please tell me if it was... or wasn't, of course. Anyway, have fun! (And please, do review!)  
Before I forget: MagicbyMerlin, MagicbyMerlin, MagicbyMerlin, MagicbyMerlin, me!**

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**Merlin didn't say a word all the way back to the castle; Arthur just walked a few feet behind his servant, completely being ignored by him. The prince had complained a couple of times when a branch hit him in the face, or when he tripped over a root sticking out of the dirt, but Merlin didn't even look back; he just kept on going. He didn't care anymore. He just wanted to get away from the density of the trees reduced until there were none left, and Merlin could see Camelot rising up at the horizon. He was glad – in a castle that big it was easy to hide from Arthur. Merlin smiled to himself, remembering a lonely spot he was thinking about going to, and stepped into the high grass to reach the road, when Arthur started to yell.

"OKAY! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! I'M NOT TAKING ANOTHER STEP!"

Merlin shook his head and peered over his shoulder. Arthur was standing next to a tree, his arms crossed over his chest, his head slightly bowed forward. He gave Merlin an angry glare. Merlin pulled up his shoulders, giving him a 'like-I-care' look and continued walking up to the road.

This really surprised Arthur.

"DID YOU HEAR ME? I'M NOT TAKING ANO -" Merlin wasn't even listening. Arthur let his arms drop to his side and pouted. "Hey! Wait for me!" he ran to catch Merlin up.

Later on, when Merlin reached Gaius's workshop, Arthur had had more than enough of being ignored.

"Stop ignoring me, _Mer_lin!" he said, and for good measure, stamped his foot angrily on the ground. Merlin just sailed through the door and slammed it shut in his face.

Before Arthur realized what he was doing he was beginning to…_cry_! He simply couldn't stop himself. Tears began to stream down his face and he sobbed loudly. In seconds he was on the floor, throwing a tantrum, beating his fist on the stone and yelling uncontrollably.

The door flew open and Merlin appeared. He saw the wreck that was Arthur on the floor and seemed to freeze with confusion.

"Err…Arthur?"

Arthur continued to scream like a baby, rolling on the floor.

"Arthur, pull yourself together! What the hell are you doing?" Merlin demanded and tried to drag the prince to his feet.

Arthur unenthusiastically got up and wipped his tears away with a sniff. Between sobs, the prince managed to talk.

"You…" (another sob) "You…left…me…" he spluttered.

"Umm…are you feeling all right?"

Arthur didn't reply to that; he just started to cry again. Much softer and less 'pounding-on-the-floor-action' than the first time, but he was still crying.

Merlin couldn't just let him stand there. Other servants were passing by, staring curiously at the prince who wasn't actually hiding his tears.

"Arthur! Shush! Everybody is looking!" he tried to silence him.

It seemed as if Arthur didn't even hear.

"You left! You…you…left…MEEEEE!" he started to drop to the floor again, but Merlin grabbed his jacket and pulled him inside Gaius's workshop. He led the crying prince towards a chair, where he made him sit.

Merlin was thankful that Gaius had left to pick up some supplies. They were alone in the room. He couldn't let anyone see the prince like this – it would ruin his image.

Arthur stopped sobbing and had turned his attention towards other things in the chamber. He slid of the chair and sneaked over to a table, which was filled with all kinds of bottles. Merlin didn't notice; he was too busy wondering what on earth Arthur was so upset about. He'd never seen the prince act like this. Arthur could be a spoiled, annoying prat sometimes, but Merlin didn't expect him to cry like a baby for no good reason.

Maybe he had been a bit too harsh with him…maybe it was a good idea to apologise, just to calm Arthur down a bit…

Merlin turned to see Arthur standing next to the table, holding one of the bottles. He seemed fascinated with the contents and was about to pour it down his throat…

"NO!"

Merlin took a leap towards Arthur, trying to stop him drinking the fluid. He grabbed the bottle before it was too late, but somebody had left a pile of books on the floor. Merlin hadn't noticed them and tripped over the top one called 'How To Live With Your Neighbour Who Has The Sniffles' and tumbled to the floor, much to Arthur's amusement.

"All fall down!" Arthur snickered and pointed comically at Merlin who was now sprawled on the floor with the contents of the phial all over his face and shirt. "Big mess, big mess!" Arthur added and…_giggled_.

_GIGGLED_!!!

Okay, there was definitely something weird going on now…

Merlin pulled himself to his feet, glared at the still laughing prince, grabbed a nearby cloth from one of the tables, and proceeded to wipe the stain from his shirt and face. As he feverishly flapped at the strange liquid (it was beginning to steam) Arthur scuttled over to a bookshelf and began to pull random books off it, giggling as he went. Merlin dashed over and grabbed a book as it flew through the air. The shelf was beginning to topple…

A flash of gold stopped it from crashing over Arthur. If Merlin hadn't stopped it, it surely would have killed the prince, who thankfully hadn't noticed a thing and was now turning his attention towards the stairs that led to Merlin's room. In a split second he had shot up the stairs, STILL GIGGLING!

"Geeeh!" the prince made a strange noise that could easily have been mistaken for a toddler squealing at some marvellous sight.

Merlin darted up the stairs after Arthur, to find the prince sitting cross-legged on the floor, sorting through a pile of clothes. He pulled out a scarf triumphantly and leapt to his feet.

"MINE!" he informed Merlin loudly and began to…dance…

"Arthur, sit down! What the heck is wrong with you? Is this some kind of punishment, or something???" Merlin cried while trying to calm the delighted prince down and reclaim his scarf.

Arthur ducked Merlin's floundering hands and hurtled out the door, waving the neckerchief like a flag.

"Come back! THAT'S MY SCARF!" Merlin yelled and gave chase to the prince who was now flying out of Gaius's workshop, with many an accompanying chuckle of glee.

"MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE!" Arthur shrieked, passing random servants in the corridor and sticking his tounge out at them; they just looked like startled rabbits and quickly scuttled away, pretending nothing had happened, although looking rather frightened.

Merlin had tried to keep up with Arthur, but lost track of him somewhere near the kitchens. He stood hopelessly in the middle of the hallway, still searching for a sign of the prince. There was nothing…

He heard a familiar voice, chuckling.

"Arthur?" he called, casting his gaze all around in search of the run away prince.

"You will never find me!" more giggles came from behind a statue, standing just a few feet away.

Why was Arthur playing hide and seek with him?

"Give me back my scarf!" Merlin demanded. He didn't want to admit it but he was very emotionally attached to that piece of red cloth…

"No – mine!"

"Arthur, just give it to me!" Merlin reached out to the statue, trying to grab his beloved scarf. But Arthur just drew it closer to his chest, not wanting to give it away.

"You found me!" he said with a pout and suddenly he sprinted away again. Merlin sighed. Where had the prince got this sudden energy? But he was determined, whatever Arthur had planned for his scarf; it was not going to happen.

Eventually he caught up, seeing the prince enter the main hall, waving the scarf above his head.

"Daddy! Daddy, look what I've found!"

Merlin's heart dropped to the floor. Oh no, this was about the last thing that they needed. Prince Arthur was acting strange, but Uther didn't have to know about it! Not yet, anyway…

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**What will happen next?! *tumtumtuuuuuuum* Next chapter will be on tomorrow night! (my time GMT+1 :P)**


	4. Chapter Four

**Yay! It's evening again, so time to give you the next chapter! No time to talk, just read! And review, of course.  
Oh, I know you weren't not able to log in yesterday, so I would like double reviews *giggle*, for you were not able to give me those yesterday. *angelface***

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Merlin sighed and peered through the main doors, groaning inwardly as he saw Arthur prancing over to the king, practically skipping.

Uther was sitting on his throne and addressing some royal guests, who had come to visit Camelot for a few days. Arthur ran towards his father, holding the scarf in front of him. He completely ignored the visitors.

"Daddy, look!" he tried again, fluttering the neckerchief. "Daddy, just look!"

You could almost see the anger boil in Uther's face. And suddenly it all exploded.

"ARTHUR! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING???"

Everybody fell silent at the sudden outburst of the king, Arthur included. His bottom lip started to tremble and tears started to well up in his eyes.

Merlin swiftly found himself standing next to Arthur. Before he could even start to comfort him, the prince had hid himself behind his back. Hands grabbed his shirt tightly, and Merlin could hear silent sobbing.

The king glared at Merlin as though this sudden interruption of weirdness was all his fault. Merlin knew that if he didn't get away quickly it would be the stocks for him and an ear bashing for Arthur, who was still hiding behind his legs, sobbing to himself.

"Erm…the prince has had a few too many pints, my lord," Merlin lied quickly. "It was all my fault. I know I was meant to stop him…"

"You're fortunate I'm busy or you would be in the stocks quicker than you could say GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Uther yelled, eyes a raging inferno.

Merlin was practically blown off his feet by this shout, but he quickly regained his balance, grabbed Arthur and dragged him out of the hall, ignoring all the muttering people.

"Give me that!" Merlin hissed venomously to Arthur who looked a little baffled and out of his depth before snatching his scarf away from the prince's clutches.

Big mistake…

A torrential cascade of tear suddenly erupted from the young prince, accompanied with the loudest sobs you ever did hear. People turned to stare. Merlin went red, quickly handed Arthur back the scarf, and pulled him away to the prince's chambers, which weren't too far away. Arthur let himself be dragged quite happily but Merlin was more than a little frustrated when he began to wipe his tears away with the scarf.

Ignoring the misuse of his cherished neckerchief, Merlin pulled the prince into his chambers and checked the corridor over for witnesses before quickly shutting the door and locking it.

"Seriously, Arthur, what's going on?" he demanded of the prince who had crawled under the bed for no apparent reason…

"_My_ scarf," Arthur informed him while stroking the piece of cloth like a cat.

Merlin sighed and went to pull him out from under the bed. Just as Arthur reached out his hands to be pulled, Merlin caught sight of his eyes. They were utterly, utterly childish – not a single hint maturity in them, just a little child. Either Arthur was a better actor than people gave him credit for or there was something odd going on…

Merlin was quite convinced it was the latter.

He pulled Arthur out and sat him on the bed, where the prince began to jump up and down, waving the scarf and giggling like he'd suddenly realized Christmas had come early. Merlin looked on with confused horror.

He should probably go and fetch Gaius to check Arthur over…

"Err…" Merlin looked around for something that would calm the prince down. He caught sight of the moon that was steadily rising outside the window. "Why don't you go to bed now, yeah? You've had enough excitement for one day," Merlin suggested and on second thoughts added to himself, "And so have I."

"DON'T WANNA GO TO BED! DON'T WANNA GO TO BED! DON'T WANNA GO TO BED!" Arthur bellowed at the top of his voice, and tried to escape Merlin by running and hiding under the table.

Merlin lost his temper at that point.

"I'm ordering you to go to bed, right this instant, Arthur Pendragon! Do you want me to get your father?"

Arthur's face dropped and he quietly scuttled over to the bed and pulled himself into it, still pouting.

"I'm going to fetch Gaius, okay? There's defiantly something wrong with you…" Merlin told the prince curtly while tucking him in. He made for the door but turned back with a sigh as Arthur spoke again.

"Meeeeerlin?"

"Yes."

Arthur peered over the top of his covers with eyes like saucers.

"Can you read me a bedtime story?"

Merlin just stared.

"Pwease!" Arthur promptly held up a book.

Merlin took a moment to respond.

"I…err…read you a bedtime story?" he repeated foggily.

"Yeah!" Arthur opened the book and pointed randomly at a page.

Merlin blinked. He quickly picked his jaw up off the floor and cautiously approached the bed as though Arthur were some kind of disease. Taking the book, he found it was a child's book, full of pictures of magical creatures. He wondered why on earth Arthur had this in his room but opened it nether the less and began to read the first page he found.

"Erm…and the unicorn…decided to go to…the beach…" he stopped, nervous at Arthur's unblinking gaze, but he quickly recovered again and went back to the book. "At the beach…" (he looked up into those huge staring eyes again) "The unicorn found himself…a friend…this friend was a turtle called…" (more staring eyes) "Maxwell…he and the unicorn went…swimming…in the sea…because it was a very hot day…and – oh come on, Arthur!" he stopped himself angrily. "You really don't expect me to read this, do you? YOU'RE A GROWN MAN!" he snapped the book shut and stood up, frustrated.

"I'm the prince and I order you to read me a bed time story!" Arthur demanded snobbishly. How like Arthur to go flouncing his title around…

Merlin groaned, sat down again and opened the book. Ignoring the staring eyes as best he could, he continued to read.

"The sea was…_wet_…and full of seaweed, so when Maxwell began to show off by diving into the water, he got tangled up in the seaweed. This was no problem, though, because Maxwell loved to eat seaweed. He ate the seaweed while the unicorn laughed and kicked his long legs in the water. After all he seaweed had been eaten, Maxwell had to go back to land, because he was feeling very full -" Merlin was cut off by a gentle snore; Arthur had fallen asleep. He had even stuck his thumb in his mouth and was sucking it. The sight of it made Merlin go 'awww, how cute' but made him realize things weren't looking good.

He tried to decide if he could just sneak out for a minute, to fetch Gaius to take a look at Arthur. But if the prince woke up and found the room empty, things would look even worse. Arthur would probably scream, cry and whatever other annoying things children can do. Everybody would stop beneath his window, asking themselves curiously what was going on in the room. They would whisper, gossip and chatter, and soon all of Camelot and the surrounding kingdoms would know about it.

The words 'prince Arthur has gone mad' would cover the kingdom in days…

And whose head was going to roll then? Surely not Arthur's, his baby blue eyes would probably make the executioner change his mind and get another job while he was at it; he'd become a blacksmith.

No, it would be his, Merlin's, own. He didn't have such useful eyes as Arthur did. Of course they flashed gold once in a while and they were very handy to see things…

Merlin shook his head. Back to the present! There was a problem to be dealt with!

He observed Arthur for a few minutes, making sure that he really was asleep. Arthur held the red scarf up to his nose, in the same hand that he was sucking his thumb with. Merlin even spotted a little smile. He could leave him for a few minutes, right? It seemed like it would take an elephant to wake Arthur up now.

As silent as he could, Merlin tiptoed towards the door and unlocked it. It made a painfully loud squeaking noise when he turned the key, but it didn't bother Arthur, much to Merlin's relief.

Maybe it is just a fever; the thought jumped up in Merlin's mind. He had seen sick people who had came to see Gaius kind of act the same way when 'their fever spiked' as Gaius put it.

Merlin disposed of the idea very quickly. Arthur didn't look sick; he didn't look like he had a fever or anything of that kind. He just seemed…childish. What had happened?

Now was not the time to think about it, he had to be quick to find Gaius, before Arthur woke up again and all hell would break loose. He would brainstorm later.

Merlin slipped through the doorway and shut the door behind him. For his own comfort, he pushed his ear against the door and listened. No, there was nothing to be heard.

He ran up the stairs and arrived at Gaius's chambers slightly out of breath. The door was closed, but Merlin knew Gaius was in. Without knocking he burst though the door, finding Gaius behind the table.

He was laying out all of his newest treasures, writing things down in a thick book. He didn't even look up when Merlin disturbed the quiet room, but continued categorising his supplies; he'd gotten quite used to the boy bursting in like that.

"Gaius!" Merlin gasped, still out of breath.

"Merlin," Gaius replied with a smile.

"No time to explain, Gaius! Something's wrong with Arthur!"

Gaius dropped the quill with which he had been writing, and followed Merlin back to Arthur's chambers. While running up the stairs as fast as he could, Gaius asked what had happened.

"Well, Arthur made fun of me…" Merlin explained. "I kicked him and ran to the forest…he followed me…"

His apprentice had finished describing what had happened, when they arrived at the door…

…which was open.

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**Because I couldn't tell you at the beginning:  
Story: "Unicorn and Maxwell go swimming" by MagicbyMerlin.**


	5. Chapter Five

**Note from the infamous MagicByMerlin: Hi, everybody! Thanks for all the reviews, they are all appreciated! Hmm, what do I have to say about this chapter? Well, its so fluffy/cute/sweet/ect that it is known to make the faint-hearted SQUEEEEEE like there's no tomorrow. You have been warned.**

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Merlin mentally kicked himself and squeaked fragilely at the door in horror. He had forgotten to lock it when he'd left! Now he had to go search the whole castle for prince Arthur. And he probably had taken the scarf with him as well. His beloved scarf…

Merlin buried his face in a hand of frustration, when suddenly he heard giggling from inside the room, but when he ran in, he found the room completely empty.

"Arthur? Where are you?"

Chuckles issued from under the bed. Oh, not again…

Merlin dropped to his knees next to the bed and pulled up the sheets to find Arthur, face down. He was covering his eyes with his hands, pretending he couldn't be seen by anybody.

"You haven't found me, yet!" the prince shrieked, backing up even further beneath the bed.

Merlin sighed.

"Fine…Arthur, I have found you."

Gaius raised his eyebrow. He had understood from Merlin's story that the prince had been acting like child, but he hadn't imagined anything like this…

"Arthur, get out of there!" Merlin said, rather embarrassed by the whole scene.

"You have to ask nicely, because I'm the Prince!" Arthur replied sulkily.

"FINE! Would you come out of there?" Merlin exasperated.

"Say pweeeeeeease!" Arthur demanded.

"Would you come out of there, pweeeeeeease?"

"No!"

"ARGH!"

Merlin had had enough of the reluctant boy so he stuck out his arm toward him and grabbed Arthur's wrist.

"Come on, we haven't got all day!" he growled while trying to pull the prince out.

"Wanna stay here," Arthur said firmly and folded his arms.

Thinking quickly, Merlin grabbed the scarf before he could do a thing about it and held it up triumphantly.

"Ha! If you want the scarf you have to come out!" he teased, waving the neckerchief just out of Arthur's angry reach.

"MINE!" Arthur bellowed, scrambled out from under the bed, seized the scarf with scary ferocity and scuttled away, giggling.

Merlin grimaced at this weirdness but, after a wild goose chase around the room, he finally managed to get the prince to quietly sit on a chair. Arthur had his arms crossed, the scarf tucked away safely from the grasp of Merlin and with a savage frown on his face. He didn't like what was going on here and he was _certainly_ going to tell his father about this! Merlin would get thrown in the stocks. The thought made him smile.

Gaius had already collected his wits and brought his supplies that he needed to examine the Prince, and just needed him to take of his shirt.

"No," was the brief answer.

"But I need to have a look at you, sire," Gaius persisted, trying to remain calm.

"No."

"But -"

"NO!"

Gaius studied him for a moment, concocting a plan, and then leaned over to Merlin.

"You pin him down. I'll get his shirt."

Merlin nodded unenthusiastically.

They crept up on the suspicious prince, trying to look innocent. Merlin pounced. Gaius grabbed. Soon the shirt was off, much to Arthur's fury…

This only led to another wild goose chase, but after a long time of running, chasing, hiding and seeking, Merlin and Gaius finally managed to examine Arthur. Gaius had checked everything from head to toe, and the only strange thing he could find were black scales in the prince's saliva; they were small, almost unnoticeable, but they were definitely there.

Arthur was exhausted from running around all day and had crawled back in his bed, sucking his thumb. This gave Gaius some time to talk to Merlin.

"Have you seen anything like this before?" Merlin asked, hoping that Gaius had come by it before and that he would have an antidote or something. But to his disappointment, Gaius shook his head.

"I'll have to examine it, read through a few books. But I'm positive that this is causing Arthur's strange behaviour," Gaius said while scrutinizing the glob of speckled spit in a jar.

"What shall I do with him in the mean time?" Merlin inquired, trying to ignore Arthur who was once again staring at him with those huge blue eyes. It was unnerving.

"Keep him away from everyone, especially the king. If he gets wind of this…"

"Erm…"

"Yes?"

"Well, Arthur kind of burst into the conference room earlier…and the king was there…"

Gaius rubbed his eyes, trying to think.

"Maybe he'll just ignore it," the physician said hopefully. "Get him to sleep, lock the door and keep an eye on him until I find out what's going on, okay?"

Merlin nodded, and Gaius picked up all his supplies into a bundle before making his way out of the door, which Merlin shut and locked behind him.

Casting his gaze over to where the prince was, Merlin was led to believe that he was already asleep so he pulled a chair out from the table and sunk into it after snuffing the only candle that was burning in the room; if there was less light, Arthur was more likely to stay asleep, which meant that Merlin also could have an uninterrupted snooze, but it wasn't to be…

"Uncle Mer?"

Merlin looked up. He could just see Arthur through the shadowy moonlight.

"What did you call me?" he asked incredulously, desperately hoping this was a dream.

"I don't like the dark, Uncle Mer." Arthur whined. "Pweeease, light the candle again," he sounded terrified. Arthur, the crowned prince of Camelot and strongest warrior in the kingdom, scared of the dark? Merlin couldn't help but laugh but quickly shut up when he began to hear quiet sobs coming from the bed.

He quickly lit the candle again to discover Arthur looking most forlorn and arms outstretched for a hug. He looked so small and helpless. It was almost sweet…

Merlin sighed, made his way over to the bed and quickly gave Arthur an awkward hug. He tried to release himself but Arthur appeared to have other plans.

"No, Uncle Mer, don't go! I'm…sca…" Arthur began but the sobs became more frequent. Merlin looked around franticly, trying to find a way out, but found himself completely pinned between Arthur's arms.

"I'm sc…I'm scar…" Arthur whimpered again between sobs; sounding so much like a child it was scary.

If he wasn't going anywhere, he could always try to sooth the prince, right? So Merlin patted Arthur's back, making 'shh' sounds to calm him down.

"It's okay. If you'll just let go, I can light all the candles again so it won't be dark anymore, okay?"

Merlin reached back to untie Arthur's hands, but they clasped even tighter around his neck.

"Don't leave me! I'M SCARED!!!" the prince whined.

"Arthur! I'm not going anywhere! I'm just going to make the dark go away!" Merlin replied, ignoring the thud in his ears from Arthur's deafening sobs.

After repeating a dozen times that he really wasn't going anywhere, Merlin managed to get away from Arthur and light all the candles again; as soon as they were on, the crying lessened.

"Thank you, Uncle Mer…" Arthur whispered, his lip trembling.

Merlin nodded at him, plummeting back into his chair.

"Go back to sleep, sire," he told him, whilst yawning and trying to get comfortable in the chair, but Arthur shook his head.

"Can I sleep in your bed?" he asked softly after a long pause.

Merlin looked up, stunned. Had _the_ _prince_ really just asked that?

"Erm…no, Arthur, you can't. My bed is all the way on the other side of the castle. Just go to sleep in your own bed…please…" Merlin was all but begging on his hands and knees at this point.

"Bu…but…" the breathing became irregular and fast again and Arthur was clearly on the verge of creating another waterfall of tears. "Pwease, Uncle Mer."

"No! What would King Uther think???"

Arthur shrieked upon hearing his father's name and crawled underneath the sheets and rocked back and forth.

"I'm sorry, Arthur, but -" Merlin cut himself off as he suddenly had an idea. He stood up and walked over the bed. "Budge up, then," he said while toeing off his boots.

Arthur's head appeared from under the blankets, eyes once again like huge saucers, his face flooding with relief. He hopped over to the other side of the bed and waited for Merlin to get underneath the sheets as well.

Merlin's ears turned bright red, and he hoped madly that Arthur wouldn't remember any of this when he returned to his old self.

The moment Merlin rested his head on the pillow, Arthur grabbed one of his arms and closed his own around it, like it was some kind of teddy.

"Thanks, Uncle Me…Merrrrr…" the prince mumbled before falling asleep.

Merlin watched him sleep for a while, before drifting off himself. While he kept an eye on the prince, he thought about how hard and cold he was towards him normally.

They had been hunting one day, when a storm suddenly came out of nowhere. Luckily, they had been near a cave, where they stayed all night. Now Merlin thought about it, Arthur had acted different that night. He wanted to stay close to the fire and didn't want to go to sleep, however much Merlin insisted he needed rest.

It all seemed logical now. Even the un-child like Arthur was afraid of the dark! Merlin would make sure he remembered that when he was back to normal…

Arthur had managed to slip his thumb into his mouth again and was still holding the scarf in the same hand. Merlin smiled and closed his eyes.


	6. Chapter Six

**Because of something strange, I'm not able to reply to your reviews. So I do it this way. THANKS EVERYBODY! :D The reviews make me and MagicbyMerlin really happy. Oh, she wants you to mention her too, I think she's feeling a bit left out. :O So say really nice things about her, it would make her even happier!**

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When Merlin opened his eyes, he was startled by his surroundings – the weirdest thing being the softness of the bed. It took him a little while to realise what'd happened the previous night, but when he remembered, he jerked awake properly.

He looked at his side where Arthur was supposed to be sleeping. He wasn't there anymore…

The sheets were still warm, so he couldn't have got far. Merlin tore away the blankets, throwing his leg over the side of the bed, and almost tripped over what was sitting on the floor.

It was Arthur. Merlin tried to keep silent and not laugh. The prince had folded his scarf into a boat and put it on his head like an admiral's hat. He'd managed to get his chess pieces out of the cabinet and was playing with them like they were little people.

"Look! Look! There he is!" Arthur said, his voice raised a bit. He had picked a white pawn up and was waving it around in the air.

"What? Where?" A black bishop replied.

"It's the king!" the pawn cheered and was jumping up and down.

The bishop gasped and turned around to look. Indeed, the king was strolling down the hall with the queen by his side. All of the other pieces gathered around the couple and all started to cheer.

Suddenly, a giant dragon, shaped like a hand, came crashing down and ate two castles and a knight. The pieces that were left started to scream and ran away, scattering all over the floor.

"Help us! Help us!"

The Dragon flew up before coming down again to fill his stomach with delicious pieces, when another knight entered the stage. It was the white one and stuck his swords inside the dragon.

"WHUUAAAARGHHH!!!" Arthur yelled, copying the sound of a dying dragon, before it smashed on the floor.

The chess pieces returned from their hiding places and carried the knight to the thrown, where the king and queen were waiting.

"Knight Arthur," the king said, "you have slain the dragon and saved all our lives! Therefore…" (an exciting pause) "I will take you in like my son and love you for ever!"

The pieces cheered.

Merlin just sat there, finding it hard to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat.

Arthur…

The prince seemed to feel his presence and quickly looked up behind him, grinning. Merlin was rather shocked at what he saw. Arthur's face looked younger, much younger. And was it just his imagination or was he…smaller…? He looked more fifteen than twenty-one – the age Merlin knew for a fact him to be. Once again, looking in those eyes, Merlin found no maturity in them whatsoever. This wasn't good…

"Uncle Mer!" Arthur seemed most delighted and began clapping.

"Oh…uhh…morning…" Merlin muttered, not sure how to act around the prince anymore.

"I was waiting for you!" Arthur declared. "I need your help…"

"Erm…what kind of help?"

"I'm playing dragon's and knight's, but it's getting boring," the prince informed him, climbing to his feet and racing over to a wardrobe. "I need you…" he pulled an item from the cupboard and held it up gleefully, "to wear this."

Merlin stared. It was a dress…

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"_Never_!"

"I'm the prince, and I want to save a damsel in distress, but seeing as there are none around, you'll have to do," Arthur promptly threw him the dress.

What was Arthur even doing with one of those in his closest?

Merlin stared at it.

"Absolutely no."

"Absolutely yes."

* * *

"Merlin, Arthur! I think I've found out what it is!" Gaius announced, running into the prince's chambers, only to halt in his tracks.

There was Merlin, a purple dress shoved over his head, tied to a chair, bound and gagged. As he saw Gaius he began muffling as loudly as he could and tried to shuffle the chair away from Arthur, who had suddenly appeared from behind the table, clad in armour that looked to big for him and brandishing a sword while riding a pillow like a pretend horse.

Merlin muffled something that might have been a plea for help, but Gaius couldn't be sure.

"I will save you, fair maiden!" Arthur proclaimed and set upon cutting the ropes that bound poor Merlin to the chair.

"I am _not_ a fair maiden!" Merlin yelled as soon as his mouth was free. "Let me go!"

"Oh, no! The great dragon is upon us!" Arthur squealed, forgot Merlin and quickly hid under the table from an invisible monster that was apparently flying overhead.

"Some knight you are," Merlin muttered.

"What's going on?" Gaius inquired, trying to remain sane.

"He's mad. I always knew it," Merlin said, managing to get to his feet and shuffle over, looking like some kind of misshapen tortoise with the chair still tied firmly to his back.

"Erm…come on, I think I know what's caused all this," Gaius said, trying to pull Merlin out of the room where he hoped he could some how free him from the chair.

Arthur gasped.

"Dear, fair lady! I shall rescue you from this fiend!" the prince leapt to his feet and hurtled at Gaius.

"_Noooooooooooo_!"

_Crash! _

The sound of Arthur's armour clanging to the floor, Gaius struggling to regain his breath after the prince had ran into him and Merlin, who was trying to break the chair against the wall; he only ended up hurting himself by doing so and decided he should just wait for Gaius to free him.

Arthur sat on the floor, looking a bit dazzled. The enemy seemed stronger than he'd anticipated. He needed his sword to save the poor damsel! But when he got up to run to the armoury, Arthur realised something was hurting – his knee. Tears welled up in his eyes again.

"Arthur, don't cry! Please!" Merlin pleaded, still attached to a now somewhat malformed chair.

He walked up to the prince and knelt beside him, or at least he tried to; the chair tipped over to one side; Merlin's body followed and he rolled ungracefully onto the floor. It was truly a hilarious sight – the wriggling mass of limbs, elbows and Merlin.

Arthur started to laugh. Gaius smothered a chuckle.

Merlin let out a growl.

"Can someone _please_ let me out of here?"

He heard a pair of feet coming toward him and felt someone pulling on the ropes.

"I have to say, prince Arthur, you do know your knots!" Gaius said from behind the chair.

Arthur didn't reply. He was sitting on the floor and had pulled up one of his trouser legs. His knee was red with blood and his face wet with tears.

Gaius finally managed to free Merlin, who quickly got up and took off the purple dress. He quickly thanked the physician and went straight to Arthur. Kneeling down (successfully this time) Merlin noticed the scraped knee. Even as inexperienced as he was, he could see that the wound needed to be cleaned and dressed.

"Uncle Merrr!" Arthur whined, his lip trembling violently.

"Shh, Arthur, it's just a scraped knee. It's nothing to worry about."

"But…it huuuuuuurts!" Arthur rubbed his eyes.

"Aww, come on, you're a knight! Knights are brave and strong and don't cry about knees," Merlin answered, putting an arm around the prince.

"I don't want to be a knight anymore!" Arthur whimpered.

Gaius had come to see what was going on. He too noticed the bloody leg pretty quickly.

"We really need to clean that, sire. Do you think you can walk all the way to my chambers?"

Arthur sniffed, his lip pouting. He didn't want to walk – it would hurt!

"Just try first," Merlin encouraged. "Knights always try."

The prince nodded and got up, but squeaked as he put some weight on his leg.

"Uncle Mer? You carry me!"

Merlin blanched.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"But you're huge!" Merlin protested, though that wasn't strictly true; Arthur only just came up to his shoulder.

Arthur turned ugly in a matter of seconds and his eyes became like to chips of ice.

"Carry – me," he demanded, stamping his foot on the ground.

Merlin decided it was probably best if he just gave up now – he'd ended up in a purple dress, tied to a chair the last time. He sighed.

"Okay, hop on then…"

Arthur eagerly jumped on his back and Merlin hooked his arms around the prince's legs, knees buckling under the weight.

"Ride horsey!" Arthur giggled, stabbing Merlin in the ribs with surprisingly sharp heels.

"Arthur!"

"Sorry…"


	7. Chapter Seven

To Merlin's immense annoyance, Arthur had managed to bring the scarf along on the 'horsey ride' and had now stuck it in the young warlock's mouth like reins.

"GEE UP!" The prince yelled for the hundredth time, lassoing a pretend bison and earning himself the strangest of looks from hapless passers by.

Gaius had fallen behind a great deal – _way_ too embarrassed to walk with them.

Merlin groaned inwardly as another servant passed, shooting them 'are you both insane or something' kind of look before hurrying off down the corridor.

He'd never live this down…

There was a silver lining to this cloud, however, as they had just managed to reach Gaius's workshop. Merlin sped up, got inside and set Arthur down on the floor where the prince began to frolic around, waving the scarf merrily. Merlin looked on with concern as he proceeded to dip his precious neckerchief in every liquid around the physician's chamber, of which there were many. He couldn't help but yelp as the scarf began to let off smoke, having just been drenched in a vivid red concoction…

Gaius bustled in a moment later.

"What on earth is he doing???" he demanded upon seeing Arthur ruining his chambers. Merlin just shrugged. "Do something!" Gaius ordered.

"_Me_?"

"Yes, _you_!"

Merlin pulled a face as Arthur accidentally on purpose smashed a green glass bottle, giggling like a maniac.

"Erm…calm down now…" Merlin tried gingerly, warily approaching the prince. "No need to be like that!" he exclaimed when Arthur began pelting goodness knew what at him from a jar full of white powder.

"I'm the prince and you can't tell me what to do!" Arthur giggled, snatching a bottle of the table and lobbing it at Merlin, who ducked just in time; the flask missed his head.

"ARTHUR PENDRAGON," he raged, "STOP IT RIGHT NOW, OR I'LL GET YOUR FATHER!"

Yeah, that shut the prat up pretty quickly. But now Arthur was pouting, angrier than ever. Merlin just pointed at a chair where he wanted the prince to sit. Arthur sulkily took a seat and dangled the scarf in front of Merlin's face.

"Don't – you – dare," Merlin whispered. "Look over there!" he suddenly exclaimed, pointing towards nothing.

Arthur turned his head to look and meanwhile, Merlin snatched the scarf and shoved in his pocket.

"Don't go crying, now. You'll get it back when we're finished, deal?"

Arthur just huffed, giving 'Uncle Mer' a 'like-I-care' look. He was pretending, but in truth he wanted the scarf back, so he cooperated completely through the rest of the procedure. Even when Gaius put a strange goo on the scraped knee that clearly stung him, Arthur said nothing, though he did pull the weirdest faces…

Finally Gaius was done with the wound.

"All done," the physician stated and began to clean up the supplies he had needed.

Arthur rolled down his trouser leg, climbed out of the chair and marched up to Merlin.

"Can I have _my_ scarf back now, Uncle Mer? You pwomised…"

Merlin fingered the scarf in his pocket lovingly, reluctant to hand it over, but Arthur was glaring at him, so he unenthusiastically pulled it out and gave it to him. The prince cheered up immediately and began to caper around again. As Merlin watched him he was quite sure he looked shorter…

"Merlin?"

"Yeah?" he turned to Gaius who had appeared next to him, looking dubious and holding a book.

"Before he starts any more trouble, I'm going to show you this," Gaius said, showing him a page of the book that had a picture of a black butterfly on it.

"What is it?" Merlin inquired, gesturing at the butterfly. "I'm guessing, not your common all garden butterfly."

"It's called the WitchBird," the physician explained. "Not a lot of people know this, but it has magical properties – that's why it hasn't been hunted down by Uther. I'm positive this is what's caused Arthur's childlike behaviour. The thing is, it decreases age mentally with its scales if they're breathed in, but it also decreases age physically, as well. Have you noticed how Arthur looks…younger?"

"Yeah," Merlin said; releasing a long breath and casting a concerned glance at the prince who was trying to do a cartwheel.

"He'll decrease in age five years at a time. By my reckoning he's only got a few days, maybe less, before…" Gaius trailed off.

"Before what?" Merlin demanded sharply.

"Before he just…disappears."

"How do we save him?" Merlin asked desperately.

"Have you seen one of these near Arthur lately?" Gaius asked, pointing at the butterfly. "And where abouts?"

"I haven't -" Merlin began but Arthur suddenly popped up behind them, making him jump.

"Pretty!" Arthur giggled, staring at the WitchBird.

"Have you seen it before?" Merlin asked.

"Might have done…" Arthur said stubbornly.

Merlin sighed. What was he going to have to subject himself to this time to get an answer from him?

"Please tell me," he beseeched.

"No."

"_Please_!"

"Only," said Arthur with a sly grin, "If…"

"What?"

"You call me Artie!" the prince decreed.

Merlin and Gaius exchanged glances.

"Erm…have you seen it before…_Artie_?" Merlin mumbled, ears going red.

"Yeah," Arthur said, grin becoming ever wider, "by the lake."

And suddenly Merlin remembered.

"Arthur -" he began but the prince kicked him. "OW! I mean…_Artie_ started to act like this when we went to the lake," he told Gaius and gave Arthur an angry look; the prince just stuck out his tongue at him. Merlin did it back, but before they could start a fight, Gaius took control of the situation.

"Boys, boys!" he began, making calming motions with his hands. "Merlin, you're old enough to know that this isn't the right way to act! And you, Prince Arth – I mean _Artie_…" Gaius corrected himself before getting kicked. "You are wise enough to know what you're doing! So, stop it the both of you, or you won't get any dessert tonight!" when they subsided into silence, Gaius continued. "What I want you to do is go back to the lake and catch me one of those butterflies."

Merlin gasped.

"And what? Ending up with me acting like prince _Prat_dragon over here? No way! Besides, why do we have to even catch one?"

"Hey!" Arthur replied, insulted.

"Well, it's true…" Merlin hissed to him, avoiding another kick to his shins.

Gaius shook his head.

"It's not the WitchBird I want you to catch," he pointed to a picture in his book. The butterfly Gaius meant was the same, but white instead of black. "This one's called the SnowVale. I haven't figured out exactly what to do with it, but if you bring me one, I can find out. The book says that wherever the black WitchBird goes, the SnowVale soon follows. So, if what is written is the truth, they should be by the lake," he concluded.

Arthur's smile widened, as did his eyes. He looked up to Merlin. Merlin felt weird with the prince _looking up_ at him; it reminded him of how his friend was shrinking and now looked like a ten year old…

"Uncle Mer, are we going hunting? Pweeease, can we go hunting! I want to go hunting!"

What was it with Arthur and his strange obsession with hunting? Merlin wondered.

"Yes…_Artie_…but we're not going to kill anything…just catching a butterfly for Gaius."

Arthur pulled up his shoulders – hunting was hunting.

"Well, it's probably best if we leave now," Merlin said. "I don't know how long it's going to take to find those butterflies."

It was like Arthur just heard his birthday would come four times a year. He jumped up and down like a frog, grabbed Merlin's hand and started pulling him towards the door. "C'mon!"

He had almost shoved Merlin through the doorway, when Gaius came rushing towards them and handed Merlin a butterfly net.

"Here, use this."

Merlin frowned.

"Where did this come from?" Merlin inquired incredulously while gingerly taking the net, feeling rather stupid.

"Oh…" Gaius waved his hand dismissively, "had it lying around somewhere…but you should be going. Prince…_Artie_…is getting -"

"UNCLE MER! WANNA GO!" Arthur pulled him once more. Merlin's hand slipped from where he was holding the doorpost and tripped. Arthur didn't mind; if he had to, he would drag Merlin to the lake…


	8. Chapter Eight

Arthur kept marching on towards the trees that surrounded the lake, dragging Merlin along with him. The clothes he was wearing didn't seem to fit properly anymore and he tripped over them a few times. That didn't mean he would let go, though. When he fell, he pulled Merlin down with him. But what frightened Merlin most was that the prince's head only just reached his waist and he looked around six or seven years old1. It was breaking Merlin heart. Where had _Arthur_ gone?

"Okay…Artie…" he began, still unfamiliar with this new name. He'd called Arthur, Arthur only a few minutes before, and earned himself an immensely painful kick to the shins, so he decided, Artie was probably best, "enough of this! I can walk perfectly well on my own!" he snatched himself free from Arthur's grasp.

"But, Uncle Mer…" Arthur said, trying to roll up his sleeves again. "We can't miss those butterflies! We have to go hunt them _now_!"

This actually made sense, so Merlin sped up, following Arthur as he ran into the woods.

The lake looked just the same as the last time Merlin had been there. Only now, Arthur was running up and down the waterline, looking underneath every rock and leaf there was, trying to find a butterfly.

* * *

"Uncle Merrr," Arthur whimpered a while later, still having no butterfly in his clutches, "I can't find anything," he pouted again.

Merlin had stood by, holding the butterfly net in one hand and was using the other to block out the sun from his eyes, so he could observe the entire lake; like Arthur, he had seen nothing.

Arthur was ambling around now and seemed to have lost attention completely. He had found a stick and began poking it into a hole; ants came crawling out. Arthur giggled.

Merlin didn't want to give up, and so ignored him. It got a bit hard when the prince started to poke his feet with the surprisingly sharp twig. But even that bored Arthur pretty quickly, so he threw the stick away and looked around for another source of entertainment.

Merlin tried to concentrate on his surrounding to spot the white butterfly, but suddenly someone threw something in his face.

"Here, hold this!" the prince said before running off towards the lake.

"Artie, what's…" he trailed off after finding it was the prince's jacket.

From underneath the jerkin, he heard water splash and Arthur giggling. Merlin frowned, confused. He pulled the away jacket to find Arthur standing in the lake, up to his waist in water. Merlin froze. Had he fallen in there?

"Arth…I mean, _Artie_, come out of there! You'll catch a cold, or something!"

The prince shook his head and stuck out his tongue at Merlin, before diving under the water and coming up a few meters to the left.

"Swim too, Uncle Mer!" Arthur called out to him.

"No, I have to wait here for the butterfly," Merlin said dryly, waving the butterfly net.

"Swim too!"

Merlin sighed. Not again…

"No, Artie. What if the butterfly comes flying by when I'm not paying attention? Then what? Who's going to be king of Camelot then?"

Arthur frowned at him.

"Me! Artie is!" he smiled, splashing the water around using his arms, scaring the fish to death.

* * *

After a while, even Merlin was getting bored. Arthur was still swimming in the lake and had found a friend as well. The little duck quacked happily as Arthur splashed him with water. The boy giggled, chasing the duck around the lake.

Merlin paced up and down the waterline, keeping an eye out for a flash of white that would lead him to the butterflies. He was still carrying Arthur's jacket.

He also had to fight the urge to fold it neatly and lay it in a closet. Merlin's own room was always a big mess, clothes scattered everywhere, but Arthur's he had to keep tidy, or else it would be the stocks for him.

Folding Arthur's clothes was a part of keeping the room clean and part of his job as his servant. Seeing the crumbled up jacket made Merlin want to fold it up, but it wasn't really the time for it.

Why wouldn't that butterfly just appear, so he could catch it, bring it back to Gaius and everything would turn back to normal?

Merlin sighed, plunging into the grass by the side of the lake, finding it to be surprisingly soft. What if the butterflies would never come by? What if they already went by? What if they missed it and Arthur would just…disappear in a few days?

Without noticing it, Merlin clutched the jacket tight and held it close to his chest. He looked down at it.

"Oh, what does it matter anyway?" he thought, folded it and laid it on his lap. But as it lay there, Merlin noticed something sticking out slightly. Something was stuck inside the breast pocket, and as Merlin softly pulled it out, he took a sharp intake of breath with surprise.

It was the blue flower Merlin had given Arthur the day he had showed him his precious book of treasures. Merlin thought the prince would have tossed it away as soon as he'd left the room, but instead he had kept it with him. He swallowed and looked up at Arthur.

The prince had gone even further into the lake and the water had reached his chin. He noticed Merlin looking.

"Swim too!" Arthur tried again, gesturing with his hand to come into the water.

All of a sudden, Merlin didn't care anymore. The butterfly was surely gone already, or was never meant to pass by. He put the little flower back into his pocket and untied the knot of his scarf. Arthur smiled happily as he watched Merlin pull off both his boots and run towards the lake. There was a big splash and as Merlin came up again after diving in, water dripping from his hair into his eyes. Arthur started to giggle and laugh, sounding most content.

"Yay!" he cheered as he swam towards Merlin, who tried to wipe away the water from his eyes. "Can we have a breath holding competition?"

"In a minute," Merlin said, taking the flower out of his pocket again, being careful not to damage it. "I was just wondering…why have you still got this?"

"Because you gave it to me," Arthur replied simply, face completely expressionless apart from a boyish smile that didn't look out of place on his six year old features.

"What's so special about that?" Merlin asked as Arthur gently took the flower and held it in the palm of his hand.

"Because you gave it to me," Arthur repeated.

"But -" Merlin began, but abruptly stopped himself as an idea formed in his mind. This Arthur didn't seem to keep secrets. He just told them without any shame – like any other small boy of six would. Maybe Merlin could have a bit of fun with this…

"So," he began, lying back in the water, "you're keeping a little flower I gave you, just because _I_ gave it to you. I thought you hated flowers."

"Flowers aren't that interesting," Arthur said. "Besides, it's all girly and the knights would laugh."

"We couldn't have that, could we?" Merlin agreed.

"No," Arthur nodded his head. "I'm only keeping it because it's special."

"Why is it special?" Merlin asked, becoming more and more interested with each word the prince spoke.

"Because it was yours once, but you gave it to me," Arthur explained. "That's what makes it special."

"Would you be saying that if you were your normal self?" Merlin whispered to the sky. Arthur heard him.

"Of course I would!"

"No, you wouldn't," Merlin argued bitterly.

"Why did you say that?" the prince asked quietly.

"Because you're always so cold," Merlin said, standing up in the water now, turned away. "I've always tried to show you that I'm your friend but you just…_brush_ me away. I don't understand what I did wrong when we met. Okay, so I called you a prat and beat you up, but -"

"Oi, I beat you up," the prince corrected.

"Fine, whatever," Merlin said. At least he was listening. The young warlock hoped Arthur wouldn't remember any of this when he was back to normal. "So we had our differences, but then I helped you with Valiant and Edwin, Sofia, the druid boy and the black knight. I even…" he took a deep breath, "I even bargained my life for yours after the Questing Beast bit you," he turned around to find Arthur looking ever so slightly sad, utterly silent. "You have no idea what I have to put up with, being your servant! And I don't mean the constant jobs and stocks when I can't get them right! I've had to save you so many times! And do I even get a thank you? NEVER!" he was almost shouting now. Arthur swallowed a lump in his through, trying to keep the upset out of his expression. "Maybe – maybe just once, not very often, but sometimes, I could just hear a little thank you," Merlin voice had dropped to a choked whisper at this point.

He found he couldn't look at those eyes of Arthur's any longer and he turned away.

Staring at the other side of the lake, he didn't notice the small boy edging towards him, clearly unhappy. Merlin felt a small hand on his arm and he looked down to see Arthur looking up at him.

"I'm sorry."

That was all he needed to say for Merlin to forgive him. He pulled the prince into a hug, blinking back the tears that were welling up in his eyes. Arthur held him close, and swore to himself, even though he was mentally nothing more than a child, never to be unappreciative of his friend again. For that's what Merlin was – a friend. Maybe the adult Arthur couldn't see that, but this one could.

They stayed there for sometime. Neither of them cared how long.


	9. Chapter Nine

**MagicbyMerlin and I love to play a game sometimes, called: "What's your favorite qoute?". You should play along! Give us your favorite qoute(s), from this chapter or the other ones. It can be the best part or line or word, or even a dot or three. We can go all squeey: "HA! That was my line!" at each other. **

* * *

A while later, Merlin and Arthur had finished with the breath holding games that the prince had insisted on, and had taken to sitting on the grassy bank, still on the look out for butterflies, but only half heartedly. Arthur had rediscovered the stick and was once again poking innocent ants.

Merlin watched him. Just watched him. Nothing more. Nothing less. Just watching.

The prince would often make the oddest noises, one of which was the reappearing 'geeh' that often occurred after a particularly hearty jab at the ant's nest.

Merlin was quite content to stay there, watching him, but something distracted the young warlock. It was the butterfly. White, sparkling in the sun and just begging to be caught. The prince was once again gurgling loudly about something or other, being painfully noisy.

"Shh…" Merlin hissed to him, holding a hand up for silence.

Arthur quietened down as Merlin reached for the net nearby his leg and stood up slowly, not wanting to spook the creature. It tentatively fluttered a little closer; Merlin raised the net.

_Swish! _

The butterfly struggled as Merlin gently put it in a jar Gaius had given him.

"Oooh, pretty!" Arthur said, staring at the SnowVale with fascination, marvel written across his face.

"Right, we'd better head back now. Gaius will be wondering were we are," Merlin decided as he screwed the lid on.

"Don't want to go home," Arthur muttered, folding his arms. Merlin raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Uncle Mer…" the prince reluctantly gave in, grabbed his jacket and began stomping off in the direction of the castle.

Merlin couldn't help but notice the little blue flower was still in his hand…

* * *

"Gaius! We're back! We've found the butterfly!" Merlin called out and closed the door behind him. The physician came shuffling towards them and took the jar Merlin was holding, then walked over to the table and set it down.

Arthur followed him, eagerly climbed on to the chair that was standing next to the counter, and watched everything Gaius did.

"Merlin, could you do me a favour and get that book that's lying just behind you?" Gaius asked while lifting the jar up to his nose and staring at the creature that kept bumping against the glass.

"Sure," Merlin lifted up a book, which had appeared to look quite light, but really wasn't at all. Arthur started to giggle as he saw Merlin, his back in an angle, which wasn't possible at all, trying to lift the book out of the cabinet and bring it to Gaius. With a loud 'boom' it arrived on the table, making the physician jump and Arthur laugh even harder.

Merlin sighed and figured that Gaius probably needed some water to find the cure, so he turned around and left the room. But when he put his hand on the door handle, he heard a sniff from behind him. Prince Arthur was about to cry again…

"Come on, Artie, let's go fetch some water…" he sighed and had to jump out of the way when Arthur sprinted out of the door, almost bumping into him. "Be right back," he said to Gaius, following Arthur.

Arthur wasn't easy to trail, however. The younger he got, the smaller he became and the faster it seemed he could run. But Merlin spotted him by the water pump and the boy was already hanging on the handle when he arrived with a bucket.

"Look how strong I am!" Arthur cheered while he pulled the handle down and water came gushing out of the pipe.

"Yeah, you're doing a great job!" Merlin agreed, hiding his concern at Arthur currant height, which was only around three foot…he was getting younger…

Only after two pulls of the handle, Arthur got tired and Merlin had to do the last two pulls to fill the bucket. The boy seemed disappointed that Camelot was completely ant-free and so he had to wait patiently for Merlin to finish, without harassing harmless bugs.

When the pair returned, Gaius had already set up some equipment. Arthur saw the stuff laid out on the table, and clambered into a chair to see what was going on.

"Can I help?" he asked.

Gaius raised an eyebrow at the boy. There was nothing Arthur could do to help him with finding the cure.

"Do you see this root?"

Arthur nodded, staring at the brownish lump Gaius was holding.

"I need it to be cut into very small pieces. Can you do that for me, Artie?"

Without answering, the boy grabbed the root and a knife that was lying on the table and climbed down from the chair. If he was going to do this, he was going to make it perfect and therefore he needed silence. He frolicked over to a corner and sat down.

"You're holding a knife…" Merlin protested.

The young prince came back for a bowl and cutting board, retreated to his corner again to sit down, and carefully started to cut the root into pieces.

"There," Gaius smiled, "that's going to take him a while to finish. And it gives me time to think."

But, however much Gaius thought, poked and prodded the butterfly, he came no closer to revealing its secrets of how to cure the prince. Arthur himself was still adamantly cutting the root, his tounge sticking comically out of his mouth, and Merlin decided that while he was busy he could catch a few winks. As soon as he was about to nod off, however, Arthur suddenly gave a huge yawn and stretched his short, five year old arms.

"Better take him off to bed," Gaius suggested quietly in Merlin's ear as Arthur eyelids began to drop.

Merlin sighed and made his way over to the prince who, surprisingly, lifted up his arms to be carried.

"Carry, Uncle Mer," the prince said, ending with another yawn.

"Come on then…" Merlin mumbled and hauled Arthur into his arms.

As they walked out the door, the prince's head began to nod and before he knew it, Merlin found the boy resting his head on his shoulder, clutching his jacket with a podgy hand and sucking his thumb.

Merlin's face softened and he stroked the boy's head affectionately, not even noticing the passing servant who were giving him funny looks that clearly stated 'who's that', for the boy in Merlin's arms was completely unrecognisable as prince Arthur. He just looked like any other blonde, blue-eyed child of five.

When they reached the prince's room, Arthur was fast asleep and might as well be a part of Merlin's chest for clinging onto him so tightly. Merlin prized him off his jacket and laid him down on the bed. Once upon a time, Arthur's feet would have touched the end of the mattress, but now they barely met the middle.

Brushing away his concern, Merlin pushed Arthur's legs under the sheets before tucking him in. Arthur wriggled comfortably. His face looked so peaceful.

Merlin had decided. He was probably never going to have a chance at this again. When Arthur was an adult again he probably wouldn't want to, but this Arthur – a different Arthur – was another story entirely.

Merlin lent forward and gently planted a kiss on the sleeping prince's forehead.

"Goodnight, Arthur," Merlin whispered to him, taking one last look before making himself comfortable on the floor, leaning on the side of the bed and listening to Arthur's quiet breathing.

* * *

**And thanks for all of those reviews! Wow!  
And sorry for giving you such sort chapter. The next ones will be longer! And don't forget the quote-game!**


	10. Chapter Ten

It was dark. Not black. Just dark. There wasn't much sound either, only dripping water and somebody crying. Who was it? Arthur didn't know. He didn't like the place. It was dark, and he didn't like it.

"Uncle Mer?" he called out, his voice rebounding off the side of the cave, creating a painfully loud noise.

There came no answer, but the crying continued, as did the dripping. Carefully, trying not to trip over anything, Arthur took a step forward. Suddenly he was slipping. Down and down and down. It seemed like it would never end. Cold. Dark. Damp. It just went on. Falling. Echoing. Sobbing. Would it ever stop?

It did stop and it did it with a loud crash. Arthur came down on the floor, feet first. But somehow nothing seemed to hurt. The one thing that hadn't stopped was the crying. It had just become closer.

He turned the corner to see two men. One was cloaked in shadow and the other was only too familiar.

Merlin.

The man in darkness drew slowly away from the servant, a knife glistening with scarlet red blood in his hand. He disappeared.

Merlin was the one who was crying.

"Uncle Mer?" Arthur asked softly. "Uncle Mer, are you alright?"

Merlin didn't answer. He turned to look at Artie. His eyes were red with tears and his hand was pressed against his stomach, trying to cover the wound from the prince.

"Uncle -" Arthur began again but cut himself off. "Merlin…" he said, using his friend's name, "What's happening?"

Merlin gurgled something, a small bubble of blood spurting out of his mouth, before his legs buckled and he collapsed. The young prince stood there, utterly horror stricken, staring at the blood that soaked Merlin's hand and shirt around his stomach.

Deciding that he was a prince and therefore brave, Arthur quickly pulled off his coat and stumbled over to Merlin, handing him the jacket, and, unable to speak, motioned for him to put it on the knife wound. With a shaking hand, Merlin clapped the jacket onto his stomach, once again spluttering something, sending flecks of blood everywhere.

"You are going to be alright, aren't you?" Arthur asked, crouching down next to Merlin, clutching his friend's spare arm with a vice like grip.

"I'm going to die," Merlin's eyes widened in what appeared to be an unnatural fear. He turned to the terrified prince, fighting back a sense of dread. "Don't watch, Arthur. Look away."

"Merlin…" the prince whispered, struggling to breath with the despair that consumed him.

"Go, Arthur. Go where you can't see me. Leave," Merlin choked, throwing Arthur away from him, but clearly finding movement difficult now.

Arthur scrambled up again and reattached himself to Merlin's arm.

"I'm not leaving you."

Merlin looked as though he were about to order the prince to leave, but his mangled stomach hampered him and he subsided into a series of involuntary spasms. Taking a strangled breath, Merlin managed to turn his gaze to the prince, the blood that trickled from his mouth mixing with the dust on the floor; it stung Arthur's nostrils, almost giving him a taste of death.

Merlin's eyes were stretched wide now, impossibly wide, staring. With a final croak of a breath, he ceased to breath, still staring with an unseeing gaze at the prince.

"Merlin?" no response. "Merlin?" Arthur shook the limp body before him. "Wake up, Merlin. Please, wake up…" still no reply met the prince's ears.

"NOOO!" Arthur screamed into the cold.

* * *

Merlin woke to the sound of a bloodcurdling shriek and a sudden thud. Jumping up from his place on the floor, he discovered the prince's bed was empty. Quickly, he searched the ruffled sheets just to make sure Arthur wasn't there, before seeing the prince sprawled on the floor on the other side of the bed.

"Arthur?" Merlin asked quizzically, forgetting to use the nickname Arthur had dubbed himself with.

The prince was either having some kind of seizure, a temper tantrum or a fit of tears, possibly all of them. He was screaming into a pillow that he was hugging tightly to his chest and almost drowning in his nightclothes what were meant for a fully-grown man, not a five-year-old child.

"Arthur, c'mon. Hush now…" Merlin tried again, casting a helpless gaze over the room for a form of rescue, but of course the chambers were empty.

Arthur continued to scream…

"Arthur!" Merlin dropped to his knees beside the prince who had his face buried in the increasingly dampening pillow, and put a hand on his shoulder.

Arthur jerked up, snapping his eyes open, and saw Merlin in front of him. He gaped for a moment before bursting into tears once more.

"What's wrong?" Merlin demanded, helplessly waving his hands around, not able to decided what to do.

"You…you…" Arthur sobbed, suddenly flinging himself onto Merlin. "YOU DIEEEED!!!"

Merlin didn't really know what to do with the small boy who had now fixated himself to his chest, but he settled for patting him on the back and rubbing his arms while making 'shh' noises gently in his ear.

"Hey, its alright. You've just had a bad dream, that's all," he said, feeling his neck become wet with tears and also noticing that the prince was shaking for some unknown reason. "Do you wanna go back to bed now?"

Arthur detached his head from the crook of Merlin's neck just long enough to nod before latching onto him again. Merlin carried the prince over to the bed, set him down, pulled the sheets over him and reclaimed his position on the floor. One again, however, Arthur had other plans…

"Uncle Mer…" he sniffed, crawling over to Merlin's shoulder and shaking him.

"Yes?" Merlin looked around.

"Can you…can I…?" Arthur spluttered, but he didn't seem to be capable of getting the right words out. A tear rolled from his eyes, over his cheek and landed on his sheets.

"What is it, Arthur?" Merlin asked with concern, turning to face him.

"Can you…just…" the little five year old pointed at the pillow and looked at Merlin, eyes filled with fear. It scared Merlin, but he understood what it was the boy wanted. He nodded and got up from the floor, sitting on the edge of bed to pull of his boots.

Slightly bashful, he lay down next to the prince, feeling his skin prickle. Arthur's lip was wobbling and Merlin suddenly found the prince snuggling up to him, practically in his lap. Sighing, Merlin just wrapped his arms around the small boy, wishing for him to go to sleep so that he himself could drift into the land of dreams.

"Uncle Mer?" Arthur whispered softly, burying his head in Merlin's scarf.

"Yes?"

"Don't leave me…don't die…pwease…" the last words trailed off as Arthur's head began to fall onto Merlin's chest, but still sounded like a plea coming from bottom his heart.

Merlin sighed, feeling relieved that the boy had fallen asleep. Not realizing he was stroking Arthur's head, Merlin quickly pulled his hand away. This was Arthur! What would he do to him once he returned to normal, given that he remembered any of this??? Merlin's mind began to play out a series of gruesome fantasies…one of which was getting pelted with arrows not fruit while in the stocks…

But what if the prince didn't remember anything once he was an adult again? Maybe he should just go with ignorance is bliss, and enjoy the time he had left with this…gentler Arthur. Yes, yes. That sounded good.

Now decided, Merlin rubbed the little prince's arm. After a moment, he began to get tired and his eyelids started to droop. Once again, however, Arthur was determined to not let him have any sleep.

"Uncle Mer…?"

"Yes?" Merlin sighed and lent his head on the pillow the other way.

"Can you sing me a song?"

"WHAT?" Merlin was flabbergasted.

"Pwease…" Arthur looked on the verge of tears again.

The young warlock quickly came up with a song he had learnt once from his mother, before a tidal wave of tears came his way. Beginning to sweat with pressure, he reluctantly started to sing.

* * *

A dragon is flying all around the sky,

And he is wondering why, oh why,

Are there people down below?

Shouting and screaming, torches aglow.

On the ground there was a knight,

His horse was black, his shield was white.

With an almighty roar, the dragon breathed a plume of flame.

The knight could do nothing but exclaim.

"Hey, mighty dragon, high up in the air!

I will defeat you, just beware!"

The dragon took no notice of his threat,

And swooped down, feeling upset.

The knight stood ready, sword in hand,

Just waiting for the dragon to land.

When he did, the knight stormed in,

Confident he was gonna win.

In a flash, the dragon was dead,

A heap of scales and a head.

The knight got consumed with laughter,

And they all lived happily ever after.

* * *

It wasn't flawless, but it was enough for Arthur; the boy had slumbered off again. Merlin hoped he was having better dreams then before. He watched him sleep for a moment; the prince's face was serenely calm.

Merlin caught himself thinking he didn't want Arthur to turn back. The grown-up Arthur would be cold and distant, but the younger one wasn't at all. The boy was actually depending on Merlin to be there for him. Merlin didn't mind at all, he was happy to be there for Arthur when he needed him.

And of course to lend his scarf to him…

Merlin sighed. The boy was clawing at his chest, searching for something to grasp and hold on to. When his little hand found the scarf, he clasped it tightly, snuggling into it if it was the only thing left in the world, together with his thumb, of course, which he had put in his mouth again.

Merlin didn't dare to kiss him again; Arthur could wake up, wanting to dance or something…

He just listened to the boy breathing and fell asleep too.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**I'm still loving it when I notice that people have read the story and take the time to review it. I want to thank all of you for that! Very much!  
Oh, and don't hate us for not liking Gwen that much... We love Merlin to much for that! Have fun once more reading this chapter!**

* * *

Gaius needed a moment to recover from the adorable sight he had encountered when he'd entered Arthur's room.

Merlin was sitting up in the prince's bed and held a little boy between his arms. Both of them were still fast asleep. Merlin's head was resting on top of Arthur's, who was resting against Merlin's chest. His apprentice's scarf had come off his neck and was being profoundly cuddled. Gaius wanted to turn around to let the boys sleep, but Merlin's eyes suddenly flicked open. For a moment he looked around the room, trying to figure out what was going on and where he was. He noticed the boy between his arms and smiled dreamily. Then he saw Gaius standing by the door.

"I'll come back later," Gaius whispered and left.

Merlin couldn't close his eyes and go back to sleep again. He looked at Arthur, who seemed about three, or even two years old. That meant they only had one day left to figure out a cure to stop Arthur from disappearing…

And on the other hand, the prince had become so small; Merlin didn't have any clothes for him to wear. But he couldn't let the boy run around completely naked. What if he ran into Uther again? First of all, the king would freak out all together, seeing his son at an age of three while he was supposed to be twenty-one… and second of all, he would think it to be magic, and wouldn't stop until he had found out who was responsible for it. But, Merlin realized, he didn't care what would happen to himself, as long as Arthur was safe and sound. He just needed to find a way to get to Gwen and get some new clothes made for the small boy; she was the best seamstress in all of Camelot, after all.

Merlin felt something stir. Arthur moved a bit and was rubbing his eyes. He opened them and looked up at Merlin, giving him the biggest smile ever. Merlin swallowed, the boy had no idea… no idea that this time tomorrow, he could be gone.

"Somefing wrong?" Arthur asked, pulling Merlin's collar. It seemed the boy also lost his ability to pronounce words normally and was sounding like a real two year old.

Merlin shook his head, smiling at the prince.

"Everything's fine. Are you hungry? Gaius left us something to eat."

Arthur's eyes started to shine and he tried to jump off the bed, but was still tangled up in his nightshirt. Merlin caught him before he could fall to the floor.

"We really need to get you some new clothes, don't we?" he said, carrying the little prince towards the table and setting him down on a chair.

"A dwess," Arthur stated, pulling at his shirt, which covered him from neck to toes.

"Yes, it does look like a dress!" Merlin chuckled. "We'll go find Gwen after you've finished your breakfast."

Arthur nodded and peeked over the edge of the table, trying to spot his food. The table was just too high for him and Merlin came running with some pillows. There, now Arthur could see what he was doing.

Merlin, who probably had guessed what was coming if he didn't do this properly, had cut a slice of bread into tiny squares and took off the crust. He had also filled a bowl with milk and showed Arthur how to dip a piece of bread into the milk and eat it.

Arthur learned quick and had finished his plate in only a few minutes.

"Go now?" he asked after he hopped out of the chair.

"Yeah, but not while you're still wearing that," Merlin said, pointing at the nightclothes. Arthur giggled.

"No dwess!"

Merlin couldn't find anything suitable and just grabbed one of the sheets of the bed. He draped it around the boy, so it looked like a toga of some kind. Arthur pouted. This still resembled a dress!

"I know, Arthur, but I can't find anything else…"

"Awtie!" Angry look came Merlin's way.

"Sorry…_Artie_…"

* * *

Bare little feet walked the halls of Camelot, pattering on the hard stone. Merlin had asked Arthur if it was too cold for him, but the boy had shook his head and kept on walking; he really wanted to get out of the weird tunic. His little hand was tucked away in Merlin's bigger one, so they were walking next to each other.  
It was still early in the morning, so they saw nobody and nobody saw them. When they reached the gates of the castle, Merlin had to carry Arthur; the prince's bare feet weren't able to walk the dirty and stony roads. Arthur didn't mind; this way he was close to his beloved scarf that had once again been reclaimed by Merlin's neck.

* * *

There was a sign on Gwen's door:

_At the orders of the king, Uther Pendragon, king of Camelot, the owner of this house has been taken to the dungeons, on suspicion of being irritating. _

Short, but it was all there. Merlin's heart sank to the floor; not another problem. But this had to be dealt with later. Prince Arthur was far more important.

Okay, plan B…

He had to return to his own room and… and… he was hoping Arthur wasn't going to remember any of it; he had to go back and… make the clothes himself.

Yes, he could sew.

Merlin's ears turned red, even though there was nobody that could see them. Only little Artie, but he was still too busy playing with the scarf.

"C'mon, Artie. Gwen's not here," he said to the little prince who was frolicking around his feet.

"Who make me clothes?" Arthur asked, looking up at him with huge blue eyes like two saucers, having to lean his head back all the way to see Merlin.

Merlin muttered something.

"I can't hear you, Uncle Mer," Arthur cupped a hand comically over his ear.

"I'll make them," Merlin said again, sighing and desperately hoping Arthur wouldn't remember a thing.

"USE THIS, USE THIS!" Arthur cheered, waving the scarf around.

"NO!" Merlin blanched in horror.

Arthur suddenly turned to him with the most evil, evil, evil of glares. It was so evil in fact that Merlin was quite sure it could kill…

"Use – scarf," the prince repeated, glaring ever harder, eyes on fire.

Merlin almost felt himself sizzling under the heated gaze.

"…Yes, sire," he mumbled picking Arthur up.

"AWTIE!" the prince bellowed in his ear, batting him with the scarf. "CALL ME AWTIE!"

Merlin just groaned.

* * *

Merlin wondered how Arthur knew where he kept his scarves. Maybe it was just a talent all small children possessed – to find things that were hidden. The prince had been in the young warlock's room for no more than a few seconds before he began to make himself quite at home by pulling all sorts of odds and ends out of the cupboard, throwing them out to be strewn across the floor in an unfathomable mess of astronomical dimensions.

He emerged from one of the piles, holding both of Merlin's very favourite neckerchiefs – the blue and red ones. Merlin decided that if Arthur didn't fade away and instead returned to normal, he would beat him up for this. He'd probably fail, but it would still give him a little satisfaction…

"Trousers!" Arthur held up the blue scarf. "Shirt!" he showed Merlin the red one.

"But -" Merlin began.

Arthur silenced him with an icy stare that sent Merlin to fetch the sewing box in the corner, sit down on a stool, take the scarves and begin stitching. When the prince wasn't looking, Merlin grabbed a scarf he didn't favour so much and, swapping it with his most cherished, began to sew, if a little begrudgingly.

Thankfully, the prince didn't notice a thing and started to climb over all objects in the room such as a barrel, bench, bed and heap of clothes. Then, that endeavour completed, he proceeded to become fascinated with a small bird that had enlightened on the window and was chirping merrily.

"Wanna!" Arthur said, pointing at the little bird. Merlin didn't hear him; he was having a bit of trouble with the needle. The thread fell out and the needle was now nowhere to be seen.

Arthur got annoyed; he wanted Merlin's attention. He tried again.

"WANNA!"

"You want what?" Merlin replied calmly, looking up.

"Birdie!" the boy said, pointing at the window. There was nothing; the bird had got scared of all the sudden noise, and had flown away. Arthur pouted, and kneeled down on the floor to see if he could find something else to play with.

Merlin had to pull the prince away from the loose wooden plank to prevent him from opening it and discovering the biggest secret of all. Arthur got angry, wanting the book that was hidden beneath it, but Merlin showed him the new pair of trousers.

It cheered the boy up, and grasping the used-to-be-scarf, sat down on the floor to put them on. Merlin chuckled at Arthur's struggling. He had put both of his legs down one hole and seemed surprised when it didn't fit. It seemed that under any circumstances the prince was not able to dress himself.

"Doesn't fit!" Arthur stated, still pouting.

"Oh, it does," Merlin said, helping the boy to put his feet in the right holes. Arthur wanted to pull up the rest of the trousers himself, glowing with pride when he did.

"Dwess off?" Arthur asked. Merlin nodded and helped him to take off the improvised toga. "Where's shirt?"

"Wait just a second, Artie, I've almost finished…"

Arthur clapped his hands in delight and stood next to Merlin as he started stitching again. He had found the needle that had hidden beneath his stool. Arthur giggled as Merlin put one end of the thread in his mouth to create a point, so he could put it in the needle.

Only moments later, the prince was fully dressed. Not being able to see in the mirror himself because he was too short, Merlin lifted him up. The boy waved at his reflection, smiling from ear to ear. When Merlin put him on the floor again, the prince turned around and threw his hands around Merlin's leg.

"Tank you…" he muffled into Merlin's knee.

"You're welcome, Artie," Merlin smiled, ruffling the prince's hair softly. "Shall we go look to see if Gaius has returned yet?"

Gaius had gone out to see an old friend, who he believed would give some help for Arthur's predicament, and would return soon. Arthur nodded and ran towards the stairs. He sat down on the first step, slid down to the next one and slipped all the way to the bottom, giggling as he went.

As he entered his chambers, Gaius laughed as he saw it.

"Who has taught you that, Artie?"

"Merlin did!"

"Merlin is a clever boy!"

"Yesh, he is!" Arthur replied, his hands up in the air.

Merlin came walking down the stairs, looking at Gaius. Gaius shook his head, the smile he had on his face disappeared. This meant the friend of his hadn't been able to help. Merlin looked down at his feet, defeated.

Arthur noticed the sudden change and started frolicking around the room, singing.

"I has sca-harf! I has sca-harf!"

But nothing could cheer Merlin up now. Tomorrow morning, or even maybe tonight, prince Arthur would be gone. Gone forever. He couldn't stop thinking about his destiny; he had failed it, and not only his destiny, also the kingdom, magic and… Arthur. He had failed Arthur.

The prince was still jumping around in the room, trying to cheer up the two men, who both seemed to be on the brink of tears. The atmosphere was dark and heavy. Arthur didn't enjoy it, but nothing he did seemed to work, not even the weird faces he pulled.

It started to scare him eventually. Tears began to well up in his eyes and he turned to go crying in a corner of the room.

"Oh, Arthur, I'm sorry!" Merlin exclaimed, hurtling towards the boy and flinging his arms around him. Arthur had no idea what was going on, but was happy being hugged and returned the gesture.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**To remind you all once more: This story was written not only by me, but also by MagicbyMerlin! Lots of thanks to the people who also mentioned her in the reviews. :P  
And thanks to all of the people who have favorited/alerted this story! I still can't believe it!**

* * *

It was only fair to bring the boy to see his father before he vanished. And of course, the other way around – king Uther could see his only son for the last time. But was it a good idea? Merlin didn't know, he could only go and find out…

He took Arthur by the hand and led him to the door.

"C'mon, Artie!" he said, trying to be cheerful, but deep inside his heart was broken. "We're going to show your new clothes to your father!"

Arthur didn't hear the sadness in Merlin's voice, which he was trying very hard to hide. The boy just smiled and frolicked out the door after he had waved goodbye to Gaius.

"Just be careful, Merlin," the physician said warily.

* * *

Someone had asked an audience with the king, so Uther was in the main hall, sitting on his throne. On normal days he would have the crown prince beside him, but Arthur was nowhere to be found. But he didn't care; he had other things to take care of first. Like that annoying brat in the dungeons – who was it? Gwen? – and the man whom had asked an audience. When his son returned, he would punish him for going away and not leaving a notice of some kind…

The man was kneeled before him, as humble as can be. His clothes were all torn and ripped, like he had walked through a thorn bush. Or sixty.

"Your Highness, I would like to apologize for my appearance. On my way to Camelot I encountered some…_difficulties_."

Uther nodded – he had accepted the apology. The man went on talking about his village, laying on the outer edge of the kingdom and how it had fallen in the hands of evil bandits. Bored, Uther had to suppress a yawn. It was not that he didn't care about the far away villages; it was just that this happened every day. He would send a couple of soldiers down to the place and they would return the next day; the evil gang of bandits would appear to be two brothers, trying to have some fun, and the villager were just too scared to do anything themselves.

The man had his forehead pressed on the floor, trying to show how humble and needy he was. The king stared at the poor man who seemed desperate, before he looked up and gazed around the main hall. Loads of people were standing there; everybody wanted something from him…

He looked at every one of them from head to toe. There were the normal guards standing at the door, a couple of ladies swooning just at the sight of him and his son's manservant. The servant was knelt down and speaking to a little boy. A little boy with blue eyes and blonde hair, a little boy that reminded him of his own son, when he had been just a couple of years old…

Arthur waved at his father as he noticed Uther looking at him. Merlin was still whispering in his ear.

"Just wait a few more minutes, Artie. Your father has important business to attend first."

"Dada always does," the young prince pouted and tried to struggle free from Merlin's grasp.

He managed to wriggle himself to liberation, and skipped his way over to the king who seemed to have noticed but was looking away, trying not to notice. Merlin looked on with concern, deciding to stay away unless it was necessary to intervene. He slipped into the shadows, and watched as Arthur pulled himself up the steps to the throne.

"Daddy!" Arthur flung himself upon his father's leg, much to Merlin's discomfort and horror. People all around were now either staring at him or the prince, wondering whom he was.

The king was frowning down at Arthur who was trying to scramble into his lap, little hands in the air to be picked up.

"Arthur?" Uther's frown deepened with confusion. "Is that _you_?"

"Dada!" Arthur squealed. "Pick up! Pick up!" his hands were still reaching upwards.

With utter confusion but a still slightly soft face, Uther picked his son up and sat him down on his lap where Arthur hugged his stomach and began to play with the long pendant around his neck. The king singled Merlin out of the shadows and sent him an 'is-this-_Arthur_' sort of glare. Merlin nodded and chewed his lip, leaving the king with his twenty-one year old son, nothing more than a toddler on his knees. Everyone in the courtroom was staring now.

"Dada, look! My clothes!" Arthur giggled and pulled at his shirt. "Uncle Mer made them for me!"

Merlin immediately looked to the floor, his face prickling with embarrassment. Great, now everybody knew…

"Who's Uncle Mer?" Uther asked incredulously.

"This Uncle Mer!" Arthur scrambled off his fathers lap and ran over to Merlin before grabbing the young warlocks trousers and pulling him over.

Merlin was quite sure his face was scarlet – he could feel it sizzling under the king's gaze.

"The manservant???" Uther exclaimed. "This…this – explain this, servant!"

"His name is Merlin!" Arthur yelled, pouting.

"Arthur, this isn't the way a prince behaves! And you, _Merlin_, what is going on here???"

This upset Arthur even more.

"ARTIE!"

"What?"

"He likes to be called…never mind…just…no, forget it…" Merlin mumbled.

Uther stared at him, clasping his hands together, not knowing what to do. First of all, he needed a quite place to figure this all of it out; he needed to think.

"Ladies and Gentleman, I have to ask you to excuse me. I have some…things to attend to…" he turned around, gesturing to Merlin to follow him to the next room.

"Come on, Artie, we gotta go…" Merlin said, taking the prince's hand.

Sucking his thumb and fidgeting with the hem of his scarf-shirt, the prince followed his father and Merlin into the side room where the king had already landed in a sofa, looking blank.

"Tell me what's going on," he said flatly, ignoring Arthur who had just gone 'geeh' again and ran over to play with a strange dial on a bookshelf.

"I'm not really sure, sire," Merlin said quietly, staring at his feet. "Me and Gaius figured this is happening because of the WitchBird butterfly. Arthur and I were…" (a cough) "hunting in the forest, when the butterfly came and changed Arthur into…this…"

Uther had put his hand to his chin, and watched his son as the little boy grabbed the item from the shelf and sat on the floor with it.

"He looks just like Arthur did when he was a small boy," the king said. "How can this be?"

"Magic, sire," Merlin said after a pause.

"Yes…" Uther sighed and closed his eyes. "How long has he been like this?"

"A few days, my lord. We are working on a cure."

"Why wasn't I told about this sooner???" the king bellowed, rising to his feet and towering above Merlin.

Arthur turned around at the angry sounds. He started to crawl towards Merlin, scared of that angry man that stood in the middle of the room. Uther saw the fear in his son's eyes, and suddenly felt a twinge of guilt. The king wasn't good with apologies at all – he never had to, because he was the king. But now he had scared the boy. His only son was afraid of him…

Arthur stood behind Merlin, searching for security. The two beloved scarves around his body weren't enough; he needed Uncle Mer to keep him save. Uther couldn't help noticing that his son was holding on tightly to the servant, the little fists turned white, the grip was so secure. His bottom lip was trembling as Arthur peeked at him from behind Merlin's legs.

Holding out his arms and sitting back on the chair, Uther encouraged his son towards him. Merlin gave the small prince a little push, and Arthur crawled slowly towards his father, looking a slightly frightened. As soon as he was near enough, Uther picked him up and set him on his lap, where Arthur sat, watching the king guardedly.

"Are you alright, Arthur?" Uther asked softly, bouncing the prince up and down on his knee, receiving a half-hearted giggle.

"I fine, Dada," Arthur mumbled.

There was an awkward moment.

"Wanna go play wiv Uncle Mer, Dada," the prince stated, trying to escape his father's clutches. Uther let him go, and Arthur tottered over to Merlin who immediately felt his insides go all fuzzy at the sight of the little boy. He picked him up and touched Arthur's nose, making him laugh.

Uther felt wretched. His own son liked a servant better than him, his own father! What sort of a man had he himself become? the king wondered, not really wanting to know the answer.

"I really am sorry for all this, my lord," Merlin said, dragging him from his thoughts. "Gaius and I are doing everything…everything we can think of…" he added sadly to himself.

"What will happen to him if he isn't cured?" the king wondered out loud, staring at his son in Merlin's arms.

Merlin froze, hating to have to admit the truth to the king. But he had to say it.

"We think he might just…vanish…" he said quietly, looking at the floor.

"Vanish?" the king repeated.

"Yes, s-sire."

"How long has he got?" Uther asked, sinking further and further into his chair.

"Possibly until tonight…or maybe even less," Merlin answered.

Uther released the breath of air he had been holding unconsciously, and swallowed. He kept hearing the words Merlin just said over and over again.

"_Until tonight…maybe less…"_

What if the servant was right?

Uther looked at Merlin. The servant was standing a few feet away. Both of his hands were clasped together behind his back and he was looking at his feet, or the cracks in the floor. Uther didn't care. He needed someone to blame for this and the only person in the room to blame was Merlin.

"What have you done?" the king suddenly hissed, rising out of his chair. His hands were tight fists and he slid towards Merlin, who was now quaking like a little leaf. "You must have done something to him for this to happen! This wouldn't have happened if you weren't here! IT'S YOUR FAULT! YOU'RE HIS SERVANT! YOU'RE MEANT TO PROTECT HIM!"

The anger, the rage, the fury and the fear – it all suddenly burst inside him. Uther clutched Merlin's shoulders and started to shake him violently.

"EXPLAIN IT TO ME!" he yelled, and kept swinging Merlin back and forth, trying to force an answer out of him.

But Merlin didn't have an answer. He was the one who had caused Arthur to go to the lake and left him there for the WitchBird to get to him. And now Merlin couldn't find a cure for it either. He felt guilty, but couldn't find the right words to tell Uther. So he kept quiet, letting the king assault him.

It was little Artie who put an end to it. He came running towards his father and grabbed a leg of his trouser. He started pulling it, yelling at the top of his voice.

"Dada! Stop it! You hurting him! Stop it!"

Uther didn't listen and kept shaking Merlin. The servant didn't even have the strength to resist anymore, but Uther couldn't stop the anger that kept raging inside of him.

Arthur looked once at Merlin, before he started to hammer his father's leg. He hammered, screamed, battered, pulled; everything his little body let him. Tears rolled down his face and streamed onto his scarf-shirt, leaving little damp patches.

"STOP IT! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" he suddenly screamed. Uther heard it like it was at the back of his head. "I hate you…" Arthur said once more, his voice trembling with anger.

Uther let go of the servant. Merlin's body slid to the floor and as his head hit the ground. The young warlock figured he would have a lot of bruises the next day.

Arthur let go of his father's leg and stumbled over to where Merlin was trying to sit up. As helpless as the boy was, he tried to brush some fantasy-dirt away from Merlin's shoulder. He even gave him a hug.

It became all too much for king Uther. His own son told him that he hated him and he was even comforting some servant.

"Arthur…" Uther whispered, stretching his hand out to his son. Arthur looked up, hearing his name and stared at his father. His eyes were filled with anger. "Arthur, I'm sorry…"

The little boy wouldn't listen. He tried to pull Merlin off the floor but he ended up dragging him towards the door as best he could.

"Listen to me! I said I'm sorry!" Uther shouted, getting angry again because there was nothing he could do.

His boy was going to walk away from him, disappearing into the nothingness. Uther felt helpless. There was nothing he could do in such a short notice; he couldn't deal with this kind of magic.

Arthur shot him another glare.

_Well, that was just fine! If that's what he wanted, let it be that way, then_, Uther thought and turned away from his son.

The prince closed the door behind him with a loud bang, waking Merlin from his fuzzy state. He saw little Arthur sitting next to him, tears in his eyes.

"Are you all right, Artie?" Merlin asked, touching the boy's head. Arthur winced, before he fell crying into Merlin's arms.

"He…he…hurt you," the prince cried. "I hate him."

"You don't mean that…" Merlin patted his back, making shushing sound.

"I don't know…I don't want to see him now."

"It's okay, we can go back to Gaius if you want to."

Arthur nodded and let Merlin lift him off the ground. Merlin was stunned at how small he was now. It wouldn't be long before the prince even lost his power of speech…


	13. Chapter Thirteen

And indeed, as Merlin suspected, it did not take long for Arthur to loose his power of speech.

Back in Gaius's chambers – though the physician wasn't in – Merlin sat on a stool, watching the little prince crawl around the room, under tables and over books. Arthur was nothing more then a baby now, really.

It was frightening to see someone who you knew for a fact to be a grown man as a tiny child, and one who acted like one. Merlin hated himself for being so helpless. He just wished he could do something.

The SnowVale butterfly was still flapping half-heartedly around its jar, but what use was it if Gaius didn't know what to do with it? Merlin turned away from the insect again as something bumped into his shin. Looking down, he saw the little Arthur with his hands held up once again to be held.

Merlin pulled him onto his lap and absent-mindedly bounced the prince up and down, making him giggle; Merlin could barely hear him, however, for all the thoughts that were raging a battle inside his head.

Perhaps there was some way for he, Merlin, to use his magic on Arthur. The prince would know afterward, surely, but the young warlock couldn't care less. He had to save him.

Tucking Arthur in his arms, Merlin quickly made his way into his room and set the prince down on the bed before pulling the plank away from the hole in the floorboards and sliding his spell book out.

While stopping Arthur from falling off the side of the bed with a hand, he opened the dusty volume and began to flick through it, scanning every page.

"What that?" Arthur asked with a fist in his mouth, pointing at the pages as Merlin turned them.

"It's going to save you, Arthur," Merlin said. He didn't use the nickname. It wasn't the time for that, and the prince didn't seem to mind so he kept going through the book.

Arthur watched silently and pointed to a couple of pictures. Some of them the little kid recognised.

"Tog!" he exclaimed and smiled at Merlin. Merlin nodded and patted Arthur's little head.

"Yeah, that's right. It is a dog. Woof! Woof!"

Arthur giggled and pointed at the next picture.

"Sake!"

"Good! And what does a snake say?"

Arthur moved his lips a couple of times until the were in the right position.

"SsssssssssssSSSSsssss," he looked up to Merlin and he started to clap his hands.

* * *

There were spells for everything and Merlin had gone through all of them probably a thousand of times already. Arthur didn't seem to understand that it was a spell book; he just pointed at creatures and flinched if it was a scary one. Maybe that was a good thing. Merlin sighed, there was no time to think about what would happen if Arthur would find out about the magic.

He turned every page, stared at both sides of it and started to panic as he reached the end of the book. There wasn't going to be a spell, which could solve this! None!

And to make things even worse, one of Arthur's hands started to fade…

The boy was happily waving his transparent hand in front of his face. He didn't seem to understand what was going on and what was about to happen if Merlin didn't find a spell. Arthur was even giggling as his hand actually disappeared completely.

"No, no, NO! This can't be happening! Please, no! Let me find a cure! _Please_!" Merlin pleaded and turned Arthur around, so he could look at the boy's face.

Arthur's eyes were big and baby blue and also the rest of his face resembled that of a baby. His hair was short and thin and a couple of shades blonder than before. His teeth were completely gone and his skin was flawless and becoming transparent…Merlin could see right through him to the other side of his room.

The prince had suddenly turned into a baby and was about to disappear in thin air!

"Think, quick! THINK QUICK!" Merlin yelled to himself, fear running through his veins. He had to come up with something now if he was going to stop this.

The loud yelling had scared baby Arthur, who started to cry.

"Shh, Arthur! Shh! I didn't mean to!" Merlin lifted the prince off his lap and started rocking him in his arms. "Shh, go to sleep! Let me think."

He looked at the little baby falling asleep as Merlin's voice soothed him. Arthur could have been a ghost, lying in his arms, being so vague.

While rocking the baby, Merlin searched every corner of his mind, trying to find a spell, which could end all of this. Maybe something to stop time, or…to…to…

Merlin sank back on the bed, trembling and trying not to cry. He couldn't find anything, anything at all. Arthur was going to disappear in a few seconds and the only thing he could do was hold him in his arms.

Merlin covered his eyes with his hand, not wanting to see it happen. A tiny hand grabbed his scarf and tugged it. Merlin let out a sob.

"I'm sorry. I'm so _sorry_!"

The little feet were kicking around happily; Merlin could feel them. At least Arthur was happy, even though he himself felt angry, sad and scared.

Suddenly, there was a strange feeling, one he couldn't place. It felt familiar, but it was different. The tips of his fingers started to tingle, the hairs on his arms were standing straight up. Magic was flowing through his veins and there was no way he could control it. His whole being felt like it was burning, sparkling, whirling, glowing, and all at the same time.

Strange words entered his mind, words he had never heard before or had read. They were coming out of nowhere, but they also seemed so natural and familiar.

Merlin was still afraid to open his eyes and look at Arthur; afraid the boy was already gone. But the magic forced them open. His eyes had never been so golden before, and even though Merlin couldn't see it, he felt it.

"_Resserecto tebeanue arataina."_

It was the words that kept sounding in his head and tried to make their way to his tounge. Merlin was scared of the effect of the unknown spell; he didn't trust the sudden explosion of magic inside of him. For all he knew, it could be an evil sorcerer toying with him.

All of a sudden, the wizard knew it was okay. He couldn't explain it, but it felt right. In fact, it felt perfect! This wasn't Nimueh or somebody else. This was his own power and magic, and he could trust it.

He opened his lips and let the words flow out.

"_Resserecto tebeanue arataina_."

They sounded so normal, but also like his own voice was miles away.

"_Resserecto tebeanue arataina_…"


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Oh no! The end is nearing! :( This isn't the last chapter, just this one and number 15 to go. I still can't believe we got over 80 reviews! Thank you so much! All of that appriciation has made me write even more stories, which will be up soon.  
By the way, it's my birthday tomorrow. Can I have a review for a present? *hint***

* * *

The room started to become brighter; the light was coming from his own hands. Only a few moments later, Arthur was actually glowing. The boy was still asleep, his face completely relaxed. He had even put is thumb in his mouth again. Merlin hoped it was for the last time.

He spoke the words one more time, a bit louder than before. The bundle of light in his arms began to blind him, but Merlin wasn't going to close his eyes. Not now he could see all the beauty around him.

In the bright light, there were thousands of smaller lights and they were whirling around the room. Merlin felt more magic surge out of his fingertips, and suddenly the lights closed in on Arthur, until he couldn't be seen anymore. They kept turning and twisting around the little body. They even tried to lift him up in the air, but Merlin wasn't letting go of Arthur. He kept the baby tightly in his arms as the magic started to change him.

A little smile crept onto Merlin's face as he felt Arthur growing. The fear and anger were gone now, replaced with relief and happiness.

It was like watching someone age at an absurdly rapid rate. Golden tufts of hair began to sprout out of Arthur's head, his face returned to its usual handsome self, his limbs all grew longer and longer, filling out with muscles, and eventually, very eventually, the prince was left lying there, still asleep, in Merlin's arms.

The thing was, he was utterly naked. Merlin quickly looked away, but still unable to stop himself from punching the air with happiness.

"Uncle Mer…"

No! He wasn't still doing that, surely!

Arthur didn't know exactly what woke him, but when his eyes fluttered open and he gazed around at his surroundings, he was pretty sure it was something weird – probably Merlin's fault…

He stared at his manservant who was just above him, his head turned away and his eyes tightly shut.

"Erm…what happened?" Arthur quizzed. Then he realized Merlin was holding him in his arms. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING???" he quickly made his way out of the hug and off the bed. "AND WHY AM I…" he dropped his voice to a whisper, "_unclothed_?"

The sound of his voice seemed to be like an electric shock to Merlin, and he quivered as though a lump of ice had fallen down the back of his shirt.

"Can I…erm…open my eyes?" the servant asked, his voice trembling with joy. He'd done it! Arthur wasn't going to die!

The prince looked around for something to hide himself with. He caught sight of a piece of red cloth on the floor. Not realizing what it was, the prince quickly picked it up and wrapped it around himself before climbing a little unsteadily to his feet – _oh, that was weird_ – and staring around him again as if he had appeared on an alien world.

"Err…yeah…you can open them. And you can tell me what the hell I'm doing here, while you're at it! _What_ happened?" he demanded as Merlin open his eyes and peeked before he turned his head back.

"Err…" Merlin thought quickly, "well, I did tell you not to, but you just had to go and drink too much, didn't you?" he pointed an accusing finger at the prince like a pistol, "You should be ashamed!"

Arthur looked blankly horrified.

"What did I do…exactly…?"

"Well…" Merlin said the first thing that popped into his head, "you sort of…ran through the castle…_naked_…"

Arthur could only stare.

"I did what?"

"I just…you are…I mean…this is…YOU'RE ALIVE!!!" Merlin could no longer contain his delight and flung himself around the prince with a joyous hug.

"Yes, I'm alive…" Arthur just took it as typical Merlin and patted his servant's back. Merlin didn't seem to want to move any time soon, so the prince had to gently prize him away.

Arthur was rather surprised and confused when he finally managed to extract Merlin from the embrace, to see tears where streaming down his friends face.

"Why are you crying? I know seeing me run naked through a castle must be a rather magnificent sight, but its nothing to get over excited about!" he said, trying to calm Merlin down for he was shaking with some sort of glee – _weird_…

"BUT YOU'RE ALIVE!!!" Merlin cried again and before the prince knew it, he was once again being hugged.

"Stop hugging me! You're scaring me now!'

"Oh…sorry," Merlin muffled into Arthur's chest and finally released him, wiping away all the tears of joy that still streamed down his face.

Arthur stared at him and then down at himself.

"Can I have some clothes?"

Merlin suddenly realized what Arthur had wrapped around his waist, gripping it tightly with a hand. HIS VERY FAVOURITE SCARF!!!

Merlin almost collapsed in horror.

"What?" Arthur demanded, for the young warlock was now shaking like a leaf and pointing at the scarf with one hand while the other was clapped over his mouth, probably to stop himself screaming. "WHAT?"

"My…my…my…MY SCARF!!!"

Merlin had to sit down, and did so.

"Erm…" Arthur began blushing. "Sorry? Can I just have something to wear…_please_?"


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Later on, once Arthur was clothed, Merlin, though still shaking with joy, was back to his usual tasks around the prince's chambers. Gaius still hadn't returned, so all that remained of the adventure was to tell him, but there was just one more thing Merlin just _had_ to do…

"So," he began breezily, while stuffing a few jackets in a wardrobe, "how is little…" he had to stop himself from laughing, "how is little…_Artie_?"

Arthur, sitting, still slightly dazed on his chair, looked up with a frown.

"Excuse me?"

Fighting back laughter, Merlin couldn't stop and just kept going.

"Would little Artie like to play dragons and knights? Or does he want a bedtime story? Maybe," he sidled up to the baffled prince, "maybe, he's scared of the dark…"

"I'm not scared of the dark!" Arthur said a little too loudly, rising to his feet and beginning to sweat as Merlin and his oddness advanced upon him.

"Maybe, he's scared of the dark," Merlin continued, "and needs his faithful manservant to protect him…"

"What did you do???" Arthur demanded, trying not to stumble over a stray boot as he backed away from the oncoming Merlin who suddenly stopped and turned away airily.

"Oh, nothing," the young warlock said dismissively. "Just…shared a bed with you, nothing important or anything…"

"You did _WHAT_???" Arthur went quite white.

"Oh, yes…you were quite beside yourself," Merlin went on. "I think you must have had a bad dream or something."

"I…I remember it…" Arthur mumbled, trying to think. "I…I think you died…"

It was Merlin's turn to reel now. Arthur had dreams about him? Did that mean he was frightened for his safety? Did that mean he actually cared for his manservant?

He quickly recovered, but there was an awkward silence that hung thickly in the air.

"ANYWAY!" they both said together.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Most definitely."

"Quite."

"Indeed."

"Yes."

"Very much so."

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

"Well, that's sorted then."

"Yeah…"

"Right, then…" Arthur mumbled. "Err…you can leave now…"

Stifling yet more laughter, Merlin made his way out of the room, leaving a somewhat puzzled and dazed prince to himself.

* * *

It had been a couple of days since the prince had turned back to normal and everything had reverted back to what is used to be: Arthur being an annoying prat and Merlin being his ever-loyal manservant.

Arthur was lazily sitting by the window when Merlin entered the room. It was quite early in the morning, so Merlin tried to be as quiet as possible. The door closed a little bit too loudly, despite his efforts, and the young wizard winced as it did.

But Arthur didn't even look up. He just stared down at his hands where he was holding something…it was small; Merlin couldn't see what it was. Arthur carefully turned it around and around and seemed to value it like a little treasure.

As Merlin came closer to put some clothes in the cabinet, he saw what it was: the little blue flower.

He couldn't believe it, and had to look twice to make sure his eyes weren't fooling him. But it was true; Arthur was really holding the blue flower in his hands!

"Arthur…?" Merlin spoke softly.

The prince looked up at hearing his name and was startled when he saw his manservant standing only three feet away. He stared at the little flower, looked up at Merlin again and suddenly jumped out of his chair.

"What did I tell you about knocking? A million of times already and you still won't listen!" the prince exclaimed and folded his fist around the flower, so Merlin couldn't see it.

"Arthur…" Merlin said again.

"What?"

"You still have the flower…"

The tips of Arthur's ears turned red and he turned around to face to window again.

"Why are you so obsessed over that flower? It is just a flower, you…you…_you girl_!"

He stretched out his arm so his hand was hanging outside the window. There was nothing Merlin could do about it as Arthur opened his hand and let the flower be blown away by the wind.

"No! Don't!" Merlin ran towards the windows and peeked down to the ground, which was a long way down. The blue flower was nowhere to be seen, probably torn apart by the cruel wind. "Why did you have to do that?"

"Let is go, _Mer_lin. It is just a flower! Now, go muck out my stables or something…" Arthur turned away from both his servant and the window, and walked towards his chair.

Merlin just stood there. The feeling he had felt when Arthur was still holding his blue flower was now completely gone. Gone, taken away by the wind. The prat.

Arthur had slumped down in his chair and was staring into nothing, completely ignoring his manservant. Merlin shook his head and ran towards the door. He had to get out of there before he did something terrible to the prince – strangle him perhaps. The prat had thrown the flower he had got from his mother out of the window! _The window_! He could have at least given it back…

Merlin quietly closed the door behind him. He wanted to slam it closed, but didn't. Arthur was now alone and saw Merlin, whose eyes were welling up with tears, leave the room. Now his servant was gone, he could let down his cold disguise. The past couple of days, everybody had been teasing him, making fun of him about things he couldn't remember. And it made him feel…venerable – the last thing wanted. And Merlin was the one who started the joking…

As Arthur kept on thinking, he lifted his hand to his face, the one he hadn't stuck out of the window. Slowly, he opened his hand to reveal the small blue flower Merlin had given him. A little smile appeared on his face as he let his finger follow the outlines of the petals.

Merlin was running down the hall when he realised that he wasn't going to let it end this way. It wasn't fair! Merlin had helped him while Arthur was getting younger and younger, stood by his side, even made him some clothes from his precious scarves!

Even though the prince couldn't remember it, he could appreciate the help. He should, anyway…

But instead, he had thrown the flower away. What a way to thank him! Merlin most definitely didn't appreciate that, and he was going to make sure the prince knew it, so, he turned and made his way back to Arthur's chambers. Still being careful about all the people that were still asleep in the castle, he softly opened the door and slipped in.

Arthur was still sitting in his chair and was still staring at his hand.

Making sure the prince didn't see or hear him, Merlin tiptoed his way to the chair, so he was standing right behind it. Craning his neck, he peered over Arthur head. The prince held out his hand again and was stroking something. Merlin almost fell over when he saw what is was, again.

The little blue flower, the one Arthur had thrown out of the window, was lying peacefully in his hand, being caressed. It was quite hard to make out what Arthur was mumbling to himself, or to the flower, but Merlin managed to understand one word of it.

"Mine…"

**The End**

* * *

And that was it. :) I feel kind of lonely. Anyway, MagicbyMerlin and I want to thank you once more, all the people who have read our story, who have reviewed it, who cried, who laughed, who 'awwwed' and who 'squeeeeeeeed'.

I want to thank MagicbyMerlin as well, for giving me inspiration when I needed it.


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